Volition
by AquilaMage
Summary: Several years after Ganondorf's takeover, Sheik comes out of hiding to prepare for the the hero's return. However, his plans are disrupted when he encounters a mysterious boy who just might be one of the last surviving Sheikah. As Hyrule falls apart more quickly than anyone could have expected, the two must reconcile their differences to survive until the day the land is restored.
1. Chapter 1

The quiet of Hyrule Field at night was interrupted only by the distant call of guays and the occasional clatter of a stalchild as it passed under the trees. Even this close to the walls of Kakariko village, there was nothing to indicate that the largest human population in Hyrule resided just a minute's walk away. Once darkness fell, the inhabitants didn't dare leave their homes, lest they draw attention to themselves. While there hadn't been any incidents in the town proper, the townspeople had learned caution over the four years since Hyrule Castle fell to Ganondorf's forces.

For others, however, the dark had its uses. Sheik adjusted his weight on the branch under him as he surveyed the area again. With practically no chance of encountering a person, the only things he had to look out for were minor monsters, which sometimes had trouble noticing humans even when they weren't attempting to hide. He had been in the same tree all night. Impa said it was meant to be an exercise in patience and keeping out of situations where he would have to avoid monsters. But she had also promised him that he could see Hyrule for himself again once four years were up. While that was technically what he was doing, spending two weeks in empty areas at night without so much as a glimpse of the state of the population wasn't what he'd had in mind. If he could at least get to see Kakariko at night he would feel a lot better. After all, while he couldn't exactly interact with anyone, he felt it might do something to alleviate the guilt of knowing _he_ had caused all this. As many times as Impa told him that there was no way he could have known, it still ate at him. Even as a child, Zelda understood the seriousness of what she was doing and wanted nothing more than to protect her kingdom. She had taken up the responsibility and failed.

He shook his head. That wasn't an identity he could hold any ties to anymore. Not for a long time, at least. It hurt to distance himself from his past, but this was the only way. And it wasn't as though he had ever hated being Sheik either.

A few leaves drifted to the ground as he sat. From here, he could see the steps leading up to the village, only a moment's dash across empty space from the treeline. He pulled his scarf up over his eyes and focused on his heartbeat. Impa _was_ right, after all. As much as he wanted to know more, the risk of being caught outweighed any other priorities.

The fabric slipped down off his face and back around his neck. A few more steady breaths. He could handle this. Just a few more hours until it started to get light and then-

"!" Sheik found himself grabbing onto the branch for balance as he stared into the clearing and prayed he hadn't been heard.

A person was walking away from the village towards the trees. While it was unlikely they would notice him, he backed further into the shadows and stayed as still as possible. Not much could be determined about them due to the heavy fabric draped over their shoulders and head, which covered any identifying features. The way the bag across their shoulders folded into itself suggested it was empty. This person was clearly on their way to get something. He could only imagine what it might be.

Only once they had passed under the tree and out of sight did he realize that he was holding his breath. Exhaling, he went through his options. Staying put was the safe thing to do and he had been told not to leave that tree, but he had to investigate. Sheik glanced in the direction they had gone and climbed to the far side of the tree. Stopping only when the furthest out branch began to dip under his weight, he turned his gaze on the floor below.

Fortunately for him, the stranger had decided to stop just in sight - where the edge of the trees met Zora's River, and they were now painfully easy to spot. Lowering the hood revealed a boy with pale purple hair and lighter skin. The outfit that Sheik had found far too conspicuous before made sense now; even in the faint moonlight he almost seemed to glow.

The question of what the bag was for was answered when he saw the boy lean over by the river's edge and begin digging in the soil. A few moments of effort left him holding a small plant in his hands, which he dipped into the water before laying it on a cloth. He repeated the process several times before wrapping them all up and placing them in his bag.

Sheik leaned down further in an attempt to see exactly what the plants were. Being on the edge of a branch meant that it resulted in him bending it dangerously low, snapping part of the end. The noise caused the stranger to look up to glance in that direction. Fortunately, the darkness appeared to have kept him from being seen. While he knew he should be moving further out of sight, the sudden notice of the boy's red eyes left him frozen in place. _But that means- he can't be…_

After the boy finally pulled the fabric back over his head with a deep exhale and walked out of sight again, Sheik crawled back towards the trunk and placed a hand against the bark to steady the trembling. He needed to talk to Impa. Morning couldn't come soon enough.

XXXXXXXX

"I'm serious, Impa! I know what I saw."

"I don't doubt that you saw something, my dear." She pressed her palms against his shoulders to keep him from rising out of the seat. "You just need to consider that it was dark out, you were tired, and this was the first person you've seen in quite a while. It's possible your perception might have been…off."

Sheik deflected her hand from touching him and turned around. Her soft expression only made him feel worse; she clearly wasn't going to listen to him. "I would've thought you would be more interested in another Sheikah being alive."

She placed her fingers under his chin, tilting his head up to face her. For a while, her only response to his glare was a small smile, but finally she sighed and shifted her hand against the side of his face. "I would be. But in Kakariko? For all these years? It's highly unlikely."

"Maybe he's just better at hiding. We don't know." After all, while Ganondorf would have done thorough searches of any populated areas, there had to have been _some_ citizens that could help them escape. Especially in a former Sheikah village. He swung back around, hands on his knees and head raised a little. If nothing else, she would have to admit it was worth looking into.

A slight tug on his hair. Bits of leaf dropped to his shoulders and down his front as Impa fussed with it more. She held a sliver of bark between her fingers before dropping it to the ground. "As good as having camouflage is, getting an entire sapling in your hair wasn't the idea."

He huffed, slouching a bit. "You're ignoring a potential asset."

"Or a dangerous threat." She let his hair run through her fingers. "I understand your concern, but we have to be careful. You can't go running off after distractions like this." She let him sulk while she redid his braid, waiting until it dropped down against his back to speak again. "After all, your interest in his appearance has already lead you to ignore other details that should be concerning."

"Like what?"

"Someone is sneaking out of town at night to gather who knows what kind of plants, a task that could easily be accomplished during the day. That would seem to suggest underhanded activity." The slow realization on his face and the way he raised his shoulders and looked away was enough for her. She tipped his chair, sending him stumbling to his feet. "I want you to understand the seriousness of it, but you _are_ still learning. We can investigate this together."

XXXXXXXX

Ten nights of watches yielded nothing. Even as he settled into a tree near the spot of the original sighting, Sheik began to question if he hadn't been seen after all. It would make more sense to him that he had frightened off the boy than the idea that he hadn't actually been there. "Couldn't you at least check the village?" he whispered when Impa returned.

"Our concern is the threat involved in someone sneaking out. If they have not left, there is little chance of them meeting with any attackers." She brushed his bangs away from his face. "Get some rest. I will wake you when it is your turn to watch."

Although he appeared to be asleep, Sheik still snapped his hand up to grab her wrist before she could even touch his shoulder to wake him. Only after opening his eyes and seeing that it was her did he release her. The field was empty as it always was. As he turned towards Kakariko, he saw a faint light bobbing around the archway. Interesting that a poe would wander that far over, but nothing of concern.

A slight rustle of leaves. Impa stood beside him, gazing at the sky without meeting his eyes, even when he turned. When he raised his eyebrows at her, she simply said, "you're particularly jumpy tonight. I figured you would appreciate the warning." She silently crouched next to him.

He sighed and closed his eyes. It was at least a small comfort to know he had her helping. In their time in hiding, he had come to believe that he was prepared to face the outside world and what it had become, but even these few weeks had shown him how wrong he was. Her presence was what kept him going and safe.

The security of those thoughts only made the next few moments more jarring, however, as he barely stifled a shout when she forced his head down into the leaves. He stayed there even as the pressure lessened, waiting for an explanation.

"Someone's coming this way."

A patch of brightness began to grow. The irregular rhythm of shuffling leaves suggested the holder of the light was attempting to not be noticed, although Sheik felt the lantern made it a wasted effort.

Impa huffed. Except for releasing her hold on him, she was perfectly still, tracking every shift of the light.

By the time he lifted his head clear of the branches, he found he had a clear view. Mistaking the person for a poe seemed more reasonable now, since the almost-whiteness of his hair and face was probably closer to a ghost than some actual spirits. His attention turned completely away from the boy as he came into Impa's view.

In the seconds that it took for her eyes to fully adjust to the lantern below, the furrow of her eyebrows deepened and she wrinkled her nose. While she continued to watch him as he traveled below them, she made no move to follow his path further into the field.

Sheik pressed his scarf against his face to muffle a laugh when she frowned, mouthing words that he couldn't decipher but were probably questioning. He continued to shake with suppressed giggles even after she had gotten over her confusion, only finally able to stop once she gave him a stern look.

"Well, you were certainly right about what you saw," she began, folding her arms across her chest. "And I have to admit his appearance is certainly questionable."

He grinned. "I _told_ you he was Sheikah. And he looks to be right about my age, which might be a problem at first because he won't have much training, but once we establish contact it shouldn't be too hard to-" the look on Impa's face stopped him. "What?"

"We have no way of knowing if he is actually Sheikah. Even if he is, it's questionable that he would be alive and able to move freely, even in the night, unless he happened to make a deal with someone. Especially since he is clearly looking for something again" She placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it gently. "Stay here. I need to follow him." With that, she disappeared, leaving Sheik alone with his thoughts.

While he could understand the reasoning, he still couldn't handle what she had said. Yes, it was important to be cautious. He knew that. But there was no reason not to at least think about him as potentially useful. When he calmed slightly, he noticed that he had started plucking leaves off the branches and letting them fall to the ground. As much as it helped, he knew not to cause so much movement. Instead he forced his hands to stay at the front of his shirt, twisting the edge of the fabric.

Impa returned a few minutes later. When he looked up, she shook her head. "This boy seems very interested in the local plants. Unfortunately, I don't know much about them myself, so I cannot determine what their purpose might be." She sighed and closed her eyes. "That means he needs to be watched further." His sudden interest made her laugh. She brushed her hands through his hair again, still faintly smiling. "I will allow you to conduct most of it, since you are so interested. What I ask of you in return," she cautioned, holding up a hand to still him, "is that you give this proper gravity and not allow it to interfere with your duties."

Sheik responded by hugging her, murmuring an "I promise" into the fabric of her shirt.


	2. Chapter 2

Sheik rolled over on the floor and groaned. Papers crackled underneath him as he fidgeted, trying to curb his frustrations. Finally, he sat up, collected the sheets, and tossed then into the doorway of the next room before starting to pace.

No matter how much or how closely he observed this boy, he still couldn't find out anything more about him. All he ever seemed to do was go out to gather plants or take walks for their own sake. And he hadn't even heard so much as a word out of him, not an exclamation or a second of talking, even to himself.

His fifteenth circuit around the room was interrupted when Impa appeared in the doorway holding his discarded notes. She raised an eyebrow at him as she shuffled through them. "He's certainly keeping you busy."

He threw his hands in the air. "It's always the same exact things! Is he _trying_ to mess with me?" One of the notes was pulled from the plie and held up to her face. It looked like a chart that had been so covered with notes that it seemed more like a multicolored scribble. "There isn't any pattern to what he does, and there isn't anything new to learn from these trips. One thing is for certain, though: if he's in contact with anyone, it's in Kakariko."

"Which would require you to go in the village," she sighed.

More wide gesturing. "I'm not asking to go out in broad daylight! If I could at least see where he goes from a distance we might actually learn something." He mimicked her posture, crossing his arms and widening his stance.

They stared at each other for a minute before he took a deep breath. "Besides, I'll at least have to pass through there at some point."

Impa frowned. "It isn't urgent that you do so."

"It's part of the mission, which is _everything_ , and while it might not be an immediate need, it has to happen. How many temples do we actually know the exact location to? How many?" he pressed, leaning towards her with his hands on his hips.

She took a step back from him, keeping eye contact with a hard stare on her face. Her frown deepened before she finally let up and answered, "one."

"Exactly. One. And you won't even let me near it to-"

"It's too dangerous at night and I am _not_ letting you near the village in daylight, even as deserted as the graveyard is," she cut in.

Her words made him flinch. While she could be stern, he had never been on the receiving end of such a bluntly harsh statement before. "Still," he tried, "it will be needed eventually, and we do need a better start on finding the others. This could be good practice, and if you're really that worried you can at least watch from a distance."

Impa sighed. There was no way she could resist both the truth in is argument and the pleading expression he was giving her. She relented. "Then we had better be prepared for the next time he shows up."

XXXXXXXX

Sheik dug his fingers into the rock face, pulling himself up as fast as he dared. This was not as quickly as he would have liked, since the way every movement caught more dirt under his nails reminded him that he could easily dislodge something and cause noise. When he finally reached the top, he scrambled to the edge. _Of_ _course_ the next time the boy showed up would be the one where he decided to aimlessly wander and only return only a few hours before sunrise, leaving Sheik exhausted and paranoid about the lightening sky. Impa had finally decided that she would trust him to do this on his own, but he found himself missing her presence, if only because her skills were stronger than his own.

When he did climb over the top of the hills, there was just enough light to give him a view of the town. The sight stilled his breathing for a moment. Zelda had only been to Kakariko a few times, and it had just been to Impa's house. But even from those old memories he could tell that it had grown since that time.

The buildings were built almost on top of each other; the valley was small and expansions that would otherwise have gone outside of the borders had to be crowded inside that safe area. Despite its emptiness, it reminded him of the impressions of Castle Town Zelda had gotten whenever she'd snuck out to explore: everything busy and seeming larger than it was.

He'd been so entranced by actually getting to see the village that he barely noticed when the boy stopped partway down a street to cover his head, making him very difficult to spot except if someone knew he was there. Sheik tugged firmly on a handful of his hair. _Focus_. He shifted to the edge and looked down to follow the boy's movements.

From what he saw through the gaps between buildings, he appeared to be making his way to the other side of the village, past the windmill. While his motions were slow and calculated, he was clearly comfortable enough with the area, as he did put as much effort into stealth as he did outside. The place he stopped in appeared to be mostly shops, and Sheik only became more surprised when instead of opening a back door, he began climbing a fence. At the top, he inched sideways until he could grab the edge of a low roof, which he pulled himself up onto.

He watched as the boy navigated a few more levels before finally opening a skylight to one of the taller buildings in the area and dropping in. _A fully trained Sheikah would have just climbed the building itself, but he's pretty skilled for someone with only a little training._ By squinting at the sign, he could just make out symbols indicating that it was a potion shop. Well, at least that certainly seemed to explain a few things. After ensuring that the boy wasn't going to leave again, he turned around to climb back to the ground.

XXXXXXXX

Sheik had barely made it back to their hideout when he was grabbed and pulled inside. As he staggered upright, Impa placed a hand on either side of his face and tilted his head up to look at her. "What happened? Are you alright? I knew I should have gone with you. I can't believe I made you have to deal with this on your own"

He laughed softly. "Impa, it's alright." Bringing his arms up to match her, he gestured for her to breathe. "He just stayed out late, so it took me longer to get back, that's all."

Once the words registered with her and she was able to stop examining him for injuries, she pulled him into a hug. Curling a loose strand of his hair around her finger, she said, "thank the goddesses. How did it go, then?"

"Potion shop," he murmured into her shirt. "He climbed in the highest window from another roof."

"And that tells us?"

"Mmm." He placed his chin on her shoulder. "The plants are probably for that place and not someone else. Also, he's sneaking out instead of acting on orders or with permission. But," he continued before she could respond, "it's still possible he's with someone else in the village."

Her hum of amusement could be felt through the hug. "So you _have_ been listening to me." She pulled him back a bit so they could face each other. "But it is unlikely he is working with someone if you consider his appearance. Far too many people who could potentially turn him in." When he didn't respond, she sighed. "Which means?"

His frown gradually deepened as he ran through her words. It broke when he realized the meaning. "I can take a chance on him," he breathed.

XXXXXXXX

As he moved through the shadows, Sheik could feel every beat of his heart, each breath he took. Sounds were amplified until even his light footsteps seemed like thunder. He had to stop every once in a while to ease the tightness in his chest.

Tonight was the night he would finally be able to make contact with the boy. He had been moving towards a clearing within the trees of Hyrule Field, a spot Impa decided was optimal for this moment. He pulled a knife out with his left hand, keeping it at his side. She had promised to be nearby, but he also knew she wouldn't want him to rely on backup around someone he couldn't trust. Their previous conversation played in his head as he waited for him to move into place.

 _"The evidence suggests he is not dangerous, but there is every possibility of being wrong. You need to be prepared, especially given his area of specialty."_

 _"Impa, it isn't like I'm going to eat something that he could have touched."_

 _"There are more things that can be poisoned than food, dear. Are you willing to do whatever might need to be done if there is a risk?"_

 _"Yes. If he shows any sign of betraying me, I_ will _kill him."_

The boy was in the right spot. Time to move.

Sheik stepped around the outside of the clearing, no more than a flicker of movement to an observer. He made a few deliberate steps to shuffle the undergrowth, a light sound, just enough for him to pick up on. When the boy startled but pulled out a knife, he nodded. Not _quite_ as reckless as he had thought. Even as empty as the fields were nowadays, there was still always a chance of encountering monsters. Of course, since his skill with it was an unknown, it also introduced more complications into the situation. He could leave, but it was unlikely another time would be any better.

Breathe in. Breathe out. The boy had calmed a little, but looked ready to leave unless something else happened to pause him.

 _Now._

Slowly, deliberately, Sheik stepped out of the shadows and into the clearing.


	3. Chapter 3

Sheik stopped in front of the boy, making sure he was fully visible. His arms were held at his sides, body tilted slightly with his right side in front so the knife would be less noticeable. He had even pulled his cowl down so his entire face could be seen. Every part of him was urging to move, to talk to him, but he knew it would be far better to appear as much unlike a threat as possible and wait out the seconds that seemed to pass like hours.

He stared back for a moment. Then, just as Sheik got excited from seeing the subtle signs that he was about to move, he spun around and ran back the way he'd come.

The suddenness of the boy's action left him temporarily stunned, staring at the empty space where he had once been until his brain worked past the confusion and told him to run. As suddenly as the other, he took off. A steady trickle of thoughts came as he moved. _Why is he running? It doesn't matter, he saw you; you can't let him get away now. You know what you'll probably have to do._

 _No._ He would have shaken his head if he didn't need to conserve the energy. _You don't know that. Focus on catching him, then figure out what to do._

Passing the trees brought miles of mostly flat land into vision. He paused for the second it took to locate the one moving shadow and continued pursuit. Thank the goddesses it was a clear night.

Heart pounding in his chest, he did his best to follow the rhythm he had been taught for running. Especially with his nerves, it would help him keep up and give an advantage over someone who had no technique.

Ahead, the boy changed course in an attempt to throw him off. He almost managed it when he jumped over a low stone wall and cut immediately right, except that he glanced over his shoulder and stumbled, costing him a few precious moments of time.

At that moment, Sheik jumped off the top of the wall, tackling him to the ground. Trying to grab him proved difficult as he flailed around, pulling away and haphazardly attempting to hit him back. It soon became impossible to do more than keep him in one place. He had been taught with the assumption that any opponent would also have at least some training. Finally, he managed to get ahold of one arm and twist it behind his back.

As soon as he got a grip on him, the boy screamed, and when he froze up in response, yanked out of the hold and stumbled to his feet.

Fortunately, he recovered more quickly this time, grabbing him and using his own weight to pull them both onto the ground, which restarted their scuffle.

The rest of it was a blur of limbs: pulling, scratching, and striking out at each other. Finally, Sheik managed to subdue him by yanking down viciously on his hair and hooking his free arm around his neck. After the struggling decreased to almost nothing, he pulled them so both were sitting up and took his knife back out. He held the flat of it against the boy's neck, loosening his arm to allow him to breathe again.

"Listen," he panted, "I don't want to hurt you, but I need to talk and I can't let you leave until that happens."

"Because a knife certainly communicates 'no harm intended.'" His voice was softer than Sheik had expected. Well, not softer; the tone was too acidic for that. But lighter, somehow.

A gentle tug on his hair. "I don't like this either, but I need to make sure I can trust you first."

"It's difficult to trust someone who doesn't trust you, yes?" He pushed away from him, but was kept back by the other's grip. "Release me, then we'll talk."

"Giving you the chance to run isn't an option for me, but I'm willing to compromise." The knife went back into his belt and he adjusted his grip to turn the boy around. He tried to wriggle out, but Sheik just knocked his back into the ground and pinned his arms. Shaking his head so his scarf was completely off his face, he looked down at him to ensure that he could take in his appearance. He smiled. "There, see? We're on the same side."

He scowled. "What are you trying to prove?"

Why was he being so _difficult_? It wasn't as though it was anything but obvious. "I'm Sheikah," he said slowly.

"You know, the only reason I believe you is that no-one who would try to capture me would bother with a disguise." If someone could roll their eyes with their voice, they would sound like he did now. "Besides, _I'm_ not."

He tilted his head to one side. "What?"

The only response was a hard stare.

Sheik hesitated. "But you look…"

"Rather unfortunate for me, I know. But still not." He shrugged, looking away as if to signal that he was growing bored with the conversation.

"How do you know for sure? I mean, you were pretty young when all this started and the Sheikah weren't too great off before that, so it might make sense."

He was now completely refusing to look at him. "It's not as though the comparison was ever avoided. It's just how I happened to look."

"You never really had many friends, did you?" Sheik asked.

"What?"

Slowly, he turned his head to the side and spoke as if to empty air, an exact copy of the other's body language. "Oh, nothing."

He finally turned back towards him to glare. "Don't condescend to me." An attempt to shove him off punctuated the end of the sentence.

Sheik responded by dropping his weight so he was sitting on him rather than being crouched over, and then leaning forward to apply force to his shoulders as well. "You were doing the exact-" He forced his mouth closed and squeezed his eyes shut. As tempting as it was to shout at him, it wouldn't get anything done. "We're getting away from the point. Sheikah or not, you are the only person who I know won't betray me, and I need help."

"With _what_? If you plan on surviving for long, we're far less conspicuous if we stay away from each other."

Smiling, he leaned in, his voice dropping to a whisper. "Alright, I'll admit to that, but what if I told you I know of a way we could make things right again?"

The boy's expression changed to disbelief and then amusement before he burst out laughing. When Sheik startled he only continued to shake as he gasped for laughter between laughs. "What," he finally managed, "don't tell me – you have a plan to defeat Ganondorf?" Another fit of giggles left him unable to respond for a time.

When he finally calmed again, his expression was more serious. "Well, it's certainly clear that you _are_ Sheikah. Only one of those dogs of the royal family would be deluded enough to think that would be possible. Let me guess: you're hoping to restore those fools to power?"

The nasty grin he finished with was enough to set Sheik off. His nails dug into the boy's shoulders. "You-" he shouted, for the first time wishing he had had the opportunity to learn insults beyond a few mild ones the princess had heard from servants who thought she hadn't been listening. "You don't get to criticize me when you're not doing anything to even try! Besides," he pressed more weight onto his hands, "as far as anyone knows, there might be some surviving members. That's why Ganondorf's still gone, right? Still searching for the princess." With a huff, he pushed off his shoulders and sat up with his arms crossed, breathing deeply.

The boy didn't respond for a while, and the way his upper body was tensed as if still in pain worried Sheik. He hadn't thought he was being _that_ rough.

Any sympathy vanished when he finally did relax. "Hmph. Still doesn't convince me your idea is actually feasible."

That was the problem, of course. _He_ knew it would work, but it would require a lot of trust on the other's part even if it was explained, and as much as he wanted to trust him, he couldn't yet tell him everything. "It's complicated, and easier if I show you first. I know you have no reason to trust me yet, so I'll offer you a deal. I'm going to let you go and give you time to think about this. If you decide you want to help, meet me back in the grove in exactly a month."

He got off of him and stood before offering a hand to get up. "All I ask in return is that you don't do anything to risk my safety."

"Deal." He shook hands and stood up.

Sheik watched him run his fingers through his hair to put it back in place before fixing his shirt collar and dusting off his clothing. He took a light half step towards him. "It's Sheik, by the way," he said, twisting his hands together.

He paused in the middle of pulling back his hair. "…Vasheel Gallows."

"Gallows?"

He raised his eyebrows as he straightened out his shirt. "Were your parents just especially uncreative or do the Sheikah not bother much in naming their orphans?"

Sheik would have glared at him if he hadn't gone back to fussing over his hair. Instead, he let out an exaggerated sigh. When that didn't receive a response, he stepped back slowly. "I'll be seeing you, then."

"Perhaps."

"Well, yes." He turned and walked back in the direction they had come from.

XXXXXXXX

Once he was sure Sheik was out of sight, he looked up and swept his hair behind his shoulders. After a brief examination of the area to ensure there weren't any monsters around, he headed straight back towards the village. Even if the other did decide to follow him, he doubted he would even notice. Besides, despite his idealistic attitude, it was unlikely he hadn't already spied on him enough to know where he lived.

Vasheel quickened his pace as he neared Kakariko. Although it was still dark out, the fact that he had been away far longer than he had expected to be made him uncomfortable. Fortunately, his way through was uneventful and it wasn't until his feet touched the floor of his room that thoughts of the night's events came back into his head.

The Sheikah was far too hopeful for his own good. Even if he actually did have a plan and wasn't just stalling with the 'I'll tell you in a month' thing, there was very little possibility it would actually work.

So why was he still thinking about it? He came very near to hitting the wall before he remembered himself and opted for dropping onto his bed.

It was probably because he'd have to go along with it even if he decided it wouldn't benefit him enough and didn't show. The boy would probably just find him and keep bothering him, and he was _not_ staying here for the rest of his life just to avoid him.

He turned over and pressed his face into the pillow. No, even as insistent as he had been, he didn't seem like the type to go back on his word. Maybe that was it. As ridiculous as the idea was, the pure sincerity the Sheikah spoke with was enough to make him question if he could actually make his plan work after all.

Letting out a long groan, Vasheel forced himself out of bed and over to open the shutters of his window. Pulling a book off a shelf, he sat on the end of his bed. He _had_ to distract himself, before he started to seriously consider going back.

XXXXXXXX

"I cannot _believe_ how many risks you took! It's a miracle things turned out as well as they did." Impa had confronted him as soon as he has gotten back near cover, appearing out of nowhere to pick him up and start talking to him. "And you had better believe I'm going to be right with you next time. He doesn't seem like the type to go back on his word, but I still don't like him."

He shrugged. "Yeah, he is pretty angry. But I think that's why he'll come back. Even if he's not sure about me, he's upset enough about his situation that the possibility of making it better will interest him. You'll see."

* * *

A quick note: Vasheel was inspired by/is based on a character of the same name from the fanfiction Avilux Ignis by fleets. My version is from a different timeline, though, so they're not the same person, and there's no need to have read that to understand this. All they really have in common is the fact that they're reincarnations of Vaati.

 **fleets:** I only faintly recall that right now, but thinking on it the comment was probably influenced by him anyway, since I've become a lot more interested in the games' wildlife after developing him. And I finally got to have them meet! I've been soo excited for this chapter but now I'm paranoid about accurately portraying how he is in my head. Hopefully it's working so far.


	4. Chapter 4

A pillow flew across the room and hit the glass of the window with a light _fwump_. The even softer sound of it then falling to the floor was drowned out by the thud of a book landing at the same time.

Vasheel froze. He held his breath until he was sure he could control it, then leaned his weight on the edges of the bed to minimize creaking as he climbed off. Even with his ear pressed to the ground, he couldn't hear any sounds below. Still safe.

He glared at the incriminating volume. In his determined throwing of blankets, he had forgotten that the journal had still been on his bed. It was a good thing this book was one of the smaller ones.

It was placed on his desk where it belonged, but the pillow got flung again as soon as it was picked up. He then tossed it to the floor for good measure, but after a moment of standing staring at it with his jaw clenched, joined it.

The smoothness of the wood calmed him a little as he ran his fingertips across the lines where planks met. Just lie down and feel the slow rhythms of his body. Maybe later he could even go out and-

His eyes snapped open. Well, that moment was ruined. Hugging the pillow to his chest, he willed himself to stop thinking again. When that failed, he muttered a soft curse under his breath.

Today was a full month from the day he had encountered that Sheikah boy, and as much as he tried to dismiss it from his mind, some part of him wouldn't let go of the offer. He _knew_ the whole thing was ridiculous. Working with an agent of the Royal Family? On some unknown plan to 'save Hyrule' even though as far as he could tell it was just two young teenagers who would be doing it. He should have been able to reject it entirely and forget about it.

But even in its absurdity, the one compelling thing about it was the fact that at least the boy was doing something. After the first few weeks of Ganondorf's reign, the people had already seen enough of what would happen to those who tried to remove him and gave up. Most of them were managing to live decently even now, so they didn't see much point in trying to do something about it.

Which was all well and fine for those fools, but Vasheel hadn't been afforded that luxury. Sure, he had survived, which was more than most actual Sheikah could say, but he wasn't exactly living much that could be called a life. This offer could be his only chance at changing that.

He let out a long, drawn-out groan and dropped the pillow over his face. It was batted away seconds later when it started to muffle his breathing. He rolled to sit up and glanced at the window. Still a while until dark. Pulling a blanket around his body, he curled up against a wall. There was no use trying to avoid it, so he might as well be comfortable as he debated with himself about what to do.

XXXXXXXX

Impa gently squeezed Sheik's hand, partially as reassurance and partly to still his nervous tapping. It was well past the middle of the night, but there had not been any sign of someone approaching. She had tried to comfort him earlier by saying that it wasn't as though he was required for their plans to work, but he had burst out that that wasn't the point and she had left it there.

His head twitched up when he caught the sound of rustling leaves growing closer. When Vasheel appeared, he would have jumped down to him if she hadn't held her arm out in front of him.

She watched the boy below stop in the exact center of the clearing, crossing his arms as he looked around for someone. After a motion to stay put, she disappeared, returning a minute later. A muttered, "he's alone," and she nudged him to go.

To his credit, he barely flinched when Sheik landed on the ground in front of him this time, "Well?"

Even though he knew it wouldn't help the other's mood, he couldn't help but smile at the fact that he had actually shown up. Taking a step back, he began, "Thank you for coming back. There's one more thing I need, and then I'll tell you what you want to know."

"Listen, I already did everything else you asked, so why-" He startled and jumped back when Impa silently appeared in his peripheral vision. Upon seeing Sheik's lack of reaction and recognizing that she was also Sheikah, Vasheel allowed himself to relax slightly. "What, are you all secretly still alive?" He turned from her to glare at the other. "You never mentioned anyone else."

"Nor did he imply that he was definitely alone." She stepped to her charge's side. "I am Impa. I have been training Sheik in our tribe's ways since he was young. You can trust me as you would him."

He huffed. "I barely had enough for one, so you'll forgive me for being more skeptical of you both."

She narrowed her eyes at him. The only thing keeping her from dropping him from the mission and their plans right there was the knowledge that Sheik would protest it. She sighed inwardly. Even understanding his potential usefulness, she couldn't see how he managed to stand the boy's rudeness. She opted for closing the distance between them and staring down at him. "Smart of you to question, but you'd be wiser not to offend. Perhaps if we explained, you might understand."

At this, Sheik stepped towards them. He almost reached out to touch the other boy, but backed off at the look he was given. Pulling down his cowl, he started. "Well, you weren't wrong about us wanting to defeat Ganondorf. That's the long-term part. Do you know why he's been so determined to find the princess?"

Vasheel frowned. "She has some divine power or something, right?"

His eyes flickered to Impa for a fraction of a second before he responded. "Sort of. The reason why he was able to take over in the first place was because he infiltrated the Sacred Realm and obtained a portion of the goddesses' power: the Triforce of Power. The princess has Wisdom, which is why he needs her."

As much as he wanted to know how that happened in the first place, or even why the Sheikah knew about this, he opted to ask the more relevant question. "Why doesn't he just go after the other part first, then?"

"Because the holder of the Triforce of Courage was sent to retrieve the Master Sword by the princess, but was sent to a hidden part of the Sacred Realm because he was deemed too young to use the sword yet. At the moment, no-one can reach him."

A sigh. "Let me guess: we have to wait who knows how long for him to return from whatever 'magical training' he's doing because he's destined to defeat Ganondorf?" Vasheel rolled his eyes. That was the problem with them. Everything was legends and heroes and 'the will of the goddesses,' which was all well and fine except for the fact that it left them unable to think for themselves.

For once, Sheik looked completely serious. "We don't like it either, but unless you can win against someone with godlike power, there aren't any other options. At least we know when he will return: seven years from when this started, about three years from now." He bit his lip when the other's expression remained blank. It was probably an improvement from the usual scowl, but it might also mean he was more upset. "Not to mention there's some things we need to do beforehand to make the hero's journey as easy as possible."

"But that isn't what we need you for." Impa was now staring him down, giving a calculated glare that suggested she might be reading his mind.

"Right." The other Sheikah perked up. "Since we know it's only a matter of time until he's defeated, we've decided to try to minimize the damage being done in the meantime."

"And how do you propose to do that?" Vasheel brought a hand up to rub his temple. As much as they _did_ have some kind of plan, what he had heard so far seemed to rely on a lot of idealistic garbage.

"Ganondorf might not be around, but he certainly has followers here. Not to mention those who simply decide to take advantage of the situation for their own benefit." She frowned. "I've only done some scouting so far, but there are several locations I believe to be hideouts. The more we can hinder their ability to operate, the better the lives of the population will be."

Vasheel's nose twitched as he resisted the urge to scowl. "I don't really see how _I'm_ needed in this plan. Besides, if destroying Ganondorf is so inevitable, then how do I benefit from putting in effort?"

"The more you do now, the less ruined the world will be once you're actually allowed out in it again." Impa had placed a hand on each of Sheik's shoulders to prevent him from bursting out. "You're not satisfied with waiting. After all, you've been sneaking out when you thought there was no hope. Won't knowing there is some make you even more restless? Besides," she leaned over Sheik's shoulder to give him a sly smile, "the longer that type of people are allowed unrestricted action, the bolder they get. How long do you think it will be until it isn't safe for you to leave your hiding place at all?" Her grin widened at seeing him grow more frustrated the more she talked. Finished, she let go of Sheik but continued to stare at the other boy.

Vasheel was now tense. Unless she had been spying more than he had thought, the woman could understand him quite well based on very little interaction. He would have to be careful around her, or she might start using her knowledge in more subtle ways. Still, she had made a valid point. "Heh. Fine. _On the condition_ ," he crossed his arms, "that I be allowed to leave if I wish. I'm not one of you, so don't treat me like some solider or servant you can order around."

Sheik beamed, clasping his hands together. "That's great!" A glance up at the sky, and then he was moving towards Vasheel. "But it won't come to that, trust me." He stopped less than an inch away from touching him and instead held his hands up in front of himself awkwardly. "Anyway… we already have plans for a trial excursion so we can both get an idea of what we're doing, so I guess it's up to figuring out how soon you'd want to-"

"Now."

He startled. "What?"

"I've had enough waiting and trying to analyze your plans. I want to actually _do_ something so I can be sure about this."

Glancing at Impa, who nodded, Sheik inhaled deeply. "Alright. I'll check ahead of us, and then we can go." Then he walked off through the trees.

As soon as he was out of sight, Impa leaned in close to Vasheel. "I'm agreeing to your conditions, but keep this in mind: if I suspect that you might so much as accidentally hurt him, you will be more grateful for your death than anything else in your entire life." It was delivered in a calm, emotionless voice, and her body language once she straightened up seemed like she had never stopped patiently waiting for her student to return.

He also kept still. He told himself that it was because he didn't want to give her a response. Most people would have been unnerved, and there was no way she was going to misinterpret him as being such. Besides, the worst he was likely to do to Sheik would be to snap at him.

When he returned, saying they would have just enough time to get there before daylight, Impa surprised them both by leaving, saying that she would meet up with them later. He shrugged at Vasheel and made a motion to follow as he went back out into the fields.

XXXXXXXX

The sky in front of them was beginning to take on hints of red and yellow, signaling the oncoming morning. Sheik paused at the top of the hill to examine the small town nearby. They needed to skirt the border to get to the hiding place, and it was getting more dangerous by the minute. He looked back at Vasheel. "We have to go faster now," he whispered. "It's fortunate they're not up already."

He nodded. He hadn't said anything during the entire trip, and even now seemed distracted as they made their way past the houses and fields.

They stopped at an indentation in the nearby cliff face. After a moment of inspecting the rock structure, Sheik ran his fingers along it, murmuring under his breath. He felt the spell open the door and motioned for Vasheel, hissing at him to hurry when he saw the boy standing several feet away. Once they were both inside, he reversed it to close the barrier and replace the illusion.

"Dark in here." Vasheel's voice echoed, sounding far off. It turned out to be somewhat accurate when he held up a lit lantern to examine the cave. Shaking his head at the Sheikah's confused expression, he walked further in. He only stopped because of the tugging at the edge of his shirt.

Sheik indicated that he should sit and crouched to the floor across from him. "You should get some sleep. We'll move again once it's dark." He began to pace around the perimeter to ensure nothing had been disturbed, pausing when he noticed the other still up.

Sensing the gaze, he looked over. "I need to know exactly what you're planning on doing first."

The stare continued until he recognized that Vasheel wasn't going to move unless he said something. "I have a part of my mission to complete first, and then we're going to investigate outside town. Impa believes there's a hideout there. You know what this place is for, right?"

"The farmlands near the lake provide food for most of Hyrule, especially Kakariko."

"Yeah. Now imagine what would happen if someone threatened the lands or delivery of food." Sheik's face darkened. "There's no guarantee that would happen, but I'm not going to give them even a chance."

"Okay," Vasheel yawned. He had gotten the information he wanted and wasn't in the mood to listen to the other's emotional speeches about the good of Hyrule or whatever. Settling down with his back against the ground, he turned the lantern low. "You sleeping?" he asked the Sheikah. When he nodded, the light was extinguished, leaving them both in darkness.

* * *

 **guesty:** Thank you for your feedback! I really appreciate it, since it gives me a different perspective than my own (and especially since I'm new at this). Like especially with the things you mentioned, since I'm the one writing it, it makes sense to me and I know why things happen the way they do, but obviously that might not be communicated well. I've definitely tried to keep your comments in mind with this chapter. Also, Sheik's about fourteen right now.

 **fleets:** Well, here's certainly more about the plan. Next time's when they're really doing stuff. And I don't mind the speculation: it's telling me about what parts interest you at the very least.

 **guest:** Thank you! I'm definitely going to try to update consistently, but I'm not sure how long I'll be able to keep up this update speed.


	5. Chapter 5

The silence of the cave was disturbed when Sheik woke up for the third time, inhaling sharply and tensing his body in expectation of an attack. When nothing happened, he sighed and rolled over onto his back. Since his eyes hadn't adjusted yet, everything was dark as well as quiet. Even as calm as the environment was, he knew he'd wake up again in an hour or so. He never thought that being close to another person would make him so paranoid.

At the reminder that he wasn't alone, he turned to his side to watch Vasheel. Despite the fact that every time he checked, the boy had been asleep, his presence still prevented thinking about anything else.

One hand automatically reached under his cowl and rubbed the edges of the stone pendant he wore. Everything was fine. He was perfectly safe, and if something did happen, Impa could be there in a moment.

A frown developed as he continued to fiddle with the necklace. It had been a passing thought the last time he woke up, but now he couldn't help but entertain the thought that she had left more to encourage him to be careful than to accomplish her own tasks. She was right, but even her sternest recommendations didn't invalidate his reasoning. Even if there was the possibility of him working with Ganondorf's side to save himself, Vasheel couldn't be in contact with the Gerudo. Ganondorf would've treated him just like any other Sheikah and destroyed him: he was too desperate to get his hands on the Triforce.

Sheik sighed and glanced at the sleeping figure once more. This time he could make out more details. Vasheel was on his right side, arm curled under to support his head. Even while asleep, he still managed to look irritated, although the expression was more grumpy than anything else, and he couldn't help but giggle. He supposed the boy had reasons to be upset, but still didn't see why he had to be like that constantly.

Biting his upper lip, he laid back on the floor. It was still hours until sundown, and he might as well try to get what rest he could before they started out.

XXXXXXXX

Vasheel scrunched his face up when something touched his arm and moved it slightly. At first, he simply forced his eyes even tighter closed and curled his legs up into his body, but when it continued he rolled onto his stomach. Or at least tried to. Something got in the way of his movement. When his attempt to go the other way was also met with resistance, he finally opened his eyes to glare at it.

Sheik was standing over him expectantly. When he saw that the boy was finally awake, he stepped back and smiled, "Good morning. Or, well, night. Either way, it's time for us to get moving."

The fact that the words were painful to listen to seemed like the result of just waking up until he noticed that the echoes of footsteps around the space sent tiny sparks of pain through his skull. Vasheel tipped his head back and groaned. _Perfect_ timing. He reached into an inside pocket of his bag and drew out a pouch, stopping when he noticed the Sheikah staring at him. "What?" he snapped.

"Are you coming?" he asked slowly, moving one hand in the direction of the entrance.

"Go deal with that spell thing and I'll be ready." Not caring how off-putting he sounded since his goal had been to get rid of him, Vasheel waited until he was alone to down the potion. It was about all he could do at the moment, and at the very least should keep the pain from getting worse. He eased himself up and went to join the other.

Sheik gave him a small nod as he passed. Outside the cave, he started off in the opposite direction of town. "You don't need to do anything for this part, and it might take a while, so I'd suggest waiting at the shore."

"Shore?" He looked around for a moment before he managed to align his surroundings with the maps of Hyrule he'd seen. "We're going to the lake?"

In lieu of answering Vasheel's question, he increased his pace, stopping once they were in view of the water. Putting his hands on his hips, he sighed to himself. "And I get to search that."

"What for?" He had been considering actually listening to the advice and staying in one spot, but the question of what was going to happen proved too compelling.

Sheik tipped his head to the side and began walking to the shoreline. When the other got the hint and followed him, he started explaining as he searched. "In every era there are Sages whose job it is to keep the balance of the world and provide spiritual guidance. The hero will need their help to reach Ganondorf and win against him." He paused at a stone structure jutting out into the lake just under the surface of the water. Walking out to the end of it led to a minute of careful examination. Then, he abruptly dropped into the water and vanished.

The initial splash of cool water shocked him into standing still, but when the other failed to resurface, Vasheel started worrying. Kneeling on the edge, he leaned over the water, but in the darkness all he could make out was a few vague shapes. He considered going after the idiot, but knew he'd be worse than useless since he couldn't swim. Just when he'd resigned himself to having to explain his way out of serious injury from Impa, a shape broke the surface right next to him. He shouted and lashed out at it, stumbling backwards.

It emerged a second time, coughing up water and grasping at the edge of the stone. When he had regained his breath, Sheik glared at his companion. "What was that for?"

He returned the frown. "I wasn't expecting you to come up after being underwater for so long."

The Sheikah pulled himself up out of the water and stood, slightly unsteady at first. A light cough. "There's a passageway under there, but it leads to Zora's Domain, so that's not what we're looking for."

"…that's miles from here, though."

"Magical passage," he commented, undoing his braid to squeeze excess water out of his hair. "There's a bunch of them scattered around the land." Noticing the other still sitting down, Sheik waved his arm in his direction. "By the way, you might want to move if you don't plan on being more soaked."

He swore and got up, pulling at the edges of his sleeves as if it might help. The shirt was heavier fabric, and wouldn't dry for hours. His bag shifted against his arm and he furiously checked it for damage. Seeing none, he turned to the other. "We might as well keep going so we can find whatever you're looking for quickly and be done with it."

"If you're sure about it." Sheik arranged his loose hair against his back so it would dry faster and continued around the edge of the lake. "Where was I? Right. In order for them to help, the sages need to awaken by reaching the passageway into the Sacred Realm located in their temple." When they reached the spot where the shore met a cliff, he stared out to a patch of land jutting out from the cliff into the water.

He raised his eyebrows. "Wait. Wouldn't that mean that anyone who can get into the temple has access to there? That seems dangerous; Ganondorf could easily sabotage the mission that way."

Sheik paused. He hadn't thought of that himself until days after Impa had told him about the temples. "No. While it's possible for anyone to get inside the temple, the actual passage is closed to anyone but that sage and the hero."

He nodded, more to himself than anything else. "So what, we need to get them to awaken before the hero gets here?"

"Heh, no. The temples are full of monsters and traps designed for the hero to beat. My mission is to make sure he gets there" He turned and headed in the opposite direction, at a little faster pace since he wasn't searching the area. "by finding the temples. The Sheikah are guardians of the Royal Family, so I have the power needed to discover and teach the hero how to travel between the temples."

Vasheel thought the explanation over as he followed the Sheikah. It sounded exactly like the kind of mystical destiny quest bullshit that he wanted no part in. And at the rate they were going, they would probably end up wasting all night doing it. He stopped when he noticed a small house further up on the shoreline. Attempting to forcefully stop the other failed due to the difference in strength, but he did enough pointing to alert the Sheikah to wait.

He looked over to the house. "Oh, yeah, that. As far as we could tell, it's deserted, but I suppose you're right about checking." Sneaking over until he was against the closest wall, he pressed the side of his head against the door. When there was no sound or light, leaning on it revealed it to be unlocked. Inside, there was a deep pool of water and a bare table, but no other rooms or furniture. "Empty," he called to Vasheel.

Sheik was heading back when he stopped abruptly, craning his neck. He could have sworn he had seen a glint of reflected moonlight that wasn't just the surface of the lake. When it appeared for a fraction of a second again, he took off towards the bridges that connected the lake's small islands, leaving the other behind.

He walked over at his own pace to join the Sheikah on the large island with a tree on it. He found the other staring down at the water. Following the gaze, he found he couldn't identify anything that would be of interest and turned his head. "What, exactly, is so important over here?"

Shushing him with a wave of his arm, the blonde bent down even further. A wide grin appeared on his face. "That's definitely a crystal switch down there."

It took him just a little too long to realize what the statement implied. Vasheel managed to get out a "wait-" before he was splashed by the other diving into the water again. A strained sound came from his closed mouth as he stared up at the sky. And on top of everything else, he was sure it felt like there was more pressure against his head.

"I found the entrance!" Sheik almost went under again when he brought his hands to his mouth upon realizing how loud his exclamation was. Once recovered, he swam to the water's edge and pulled himself out. "There's a gate where the island touches the lakebed. So it should be right around…here!" Stopping abruptly in his search, he dropped to a seated position on the ground in front of the tree.

"Aren't you supposed to be concentrating on the temple?"

"No, I told you already," he crossed his legs and closed his eyes. "There are hidden warp points outside each temple that I need to activate. So be quiet and let me concentrate."

Upon seeing that he needed to wait, Vasheel gave an exaggerated sigh and walked behind the tree to the other side of the island. He crouched down and hugged his knees as he stared down into the water. _Of course_ there would be more to it than just finding the damn place. Every time they started anything, it was always just one more little thing that had to be done, and it wasn't even as though they seemed to ever need his help.

"What are you doing?" Sheik's voice cut through his thoughts.

He tightened his grip on the pebbles he had been holding. "Nothing," he shot, waiting a bit longer before going back to dropping them individually into the lake. They had diminished to only a few when he was grabbed by the shoulder.

The Sheikah stood over him, clearly frazzled. "Will you stop that?"

"I'm _bored_." Besides, the soft sounds of rocks dropping into the water gave him something to concentrate on besides the fog of pain settling around his head.

"Well, go do it somewhere else." He enunciated each word as he spoke through gritted teeth.

Vasheel gave him a blank stare. "If you weren't taking so long, I-"

He couldn't take any more. "Then stop distracting me!" He waved his arms.

For a fraction of a second he looked as though he might start shouting, but his actual response was overly calm. "Fine." He got up and leaned against the tree near where the other had been sitting. "I'll wait here. No noise."

Sheik had half a mind to throw him in the water instead, but that wouldn't exactly improve his concentration. Instead, he resumed his previous position, keeping the other just out of sight behind him. Breathing steadily and trying to keep his lessons in mind, he felt for the concentrated threads of magic that were coming from the temple and this spot. Once he got ahold of one, he just had to connect his magic to it and-

He squeezed his eyes tighter closed and wrinkled his nose. Before, it had been difficult to stay with the magic long enough to access its power because of the noise, but now he couldn't even find anything. _Calm down_. Sheik forced himself to start the process over again to make sure he hadn't messed up, but still nothing. When he opened his eyes and turned around to see that he was in the right place, he noticed the other was staring at him.

He made a face as if to ask if he was done yet, giving the impression of a condescending tone, but otherwise stayed still.

Ignoring the boy, he shifted forward and to the side a bit. No reaction. After moving for the third time, he resorted to trying to pour out his own power in the hopes that it would catch on to s _omething_.

"Are you actually going to do anything or are we going to be here all night?" Vasheel was crouched a little, hands held to the side of his head.

Despite the comment grating further on the patience that was quickly draining from his inability to even start on his task, he tried to remain calm. "I'm sorry. This is taking longer than I thought."

He scowled. "I don't know what you're trying to do, but it's becoming clear to me that what you told me isn't true."

Sheik clenched his jaw and tried to ignore him and concentrate on his magic, but quickly gave up and looked back.

"Well? Done pretending, are we?"

He stood up, arms in front of his body in a defensive position. "Look, I really am sorry, but I-"

He stepped forward, nearly growling. "No. I'm done with being part of your little game."

That was enough to snap the last thread of his patience. Fine. He had tried to be understanding, but if the other was going to be horrible, he wasn't about to stand there and take it. "Stop acting like you're the victim here!" He moved to meet the other halfway, stopping when they were mere inches from each other before shouting at him.

Vasheel winced, shrinking back and into himself. His response was almost whispered. "I'm leaving, and unless you can give me definitive proof that you meant what you said, I never want to see you again." Then he turned and walked off, leaving the other standing there in shock.

Sheik recovered not long after and instantly regretted what had happened. All that work, and he had still managed to lose a potential ally. Even as some part of him said it was good riddance if the boy was just going to be a pain, the rest of him still held that optimistic hope that the other could have been incredibly helpful, given time. Not only that, but it seemed to be impossible for him to activate even one temple's warp point. His legs gave out on him, forcing him to sink to the ground. From that position, he touched the stone on his necklace briefly before curling up into himself.

The next thing he was conscious of was pressure around his arms and torso. His immediate response was to shriek and fight against it, but a hand went over his mouth before he could act.

"It's alright, it's alright, it's me." The restraining force went away and Impa crouched down to his side where he could see. She placed a hand under his chin. "What happened?"

Sheik looked away. "We got into an argument and he left. I- I was trying to show him about the temples to prove we actually had a way of winning." He forced back a sob and tried to keep going, but the words became heavy as he felt his throat tighten. "But it wasn't working and I couldn't even get to the magic and I didn't know what to do. What if I can't do this? I failed at such an easy task, I can't do anything right, everything's going to go wrong and it's all my fault." The end of the sentence was mouthed more than spoken as he broke down completely.

Impa pulled him towards her and wrapped her arms around him, letting him curl up inside of her embrace. Humming, she ran a hand up and down his back. "Sssh. You haven't done anything wrong. This was your first time attempting some complicated magic and you were under a lot of pressure." The other hand went up to the back of his head when he leaned on her shoulder. "There's plenty of time for you to practice and get it. I have faith in you."

He sniffed. A 'thank you' was whispered before he sunk into her hug.

They stayed like that for a while until his breathing went back to normal. The time resting allowed him to see things in a better perspective. Even with everything that happened, he still had Impa around as support. They would get through this, just as she had promised to her all those years ago when they had first escaped. "Impa?" he murmured. "I want to try it again."

"Are you sure, dear? It's been a long night for you and I don't want you to overexert yourself."

A pause, then a quiet "yes."

At first, she looked at him in concern while deciding if she was really willing to let him do something that might hurt him. Then she tightened the hug for a moment and let go. "As long as you know not to be hard on yourself if you don't get it."

Sheik nodded back at her. Sitting before the tree once more, he let the sensations of his own magic wash over him. As he did, he took care to make sure only the surface of it was open, allowing only the barest traces of light magic to be released. It was needed to prove his worthiness to access the power of the sages, but it also carried the risk of discovery if anyone else were to notice, as the princess's magic gave off a unique and powerful signature.

Once he reached out towards the temple, he almost jumped at how easy it was to access now. A hint of the sage's power flowed through, a series of sights and sounds and textures, leaving him with the impression of a single melody as it ended. Even as he tried to keep still, his hands moved as if expecting something to drop in them. More magic pulled out and in front of him, thickening the air until it solidified into an object in his hands.

When he opened his eyes, it turned out to be a small harp. Something about it seemed familiar, giving the impression of a memory of using it before. Shaking the feeling and sudden bodily discomfort away, he tentatively plucked at the strings, eventually getting comfortable enough with it to test out the song. As soon as the last note sounded, everything disappeared into a blue light, and when he had blinked away the afterimage, found that he was standing a few feet away from where he had been.

Impa was watching him with a stunned look on her face. Glancing between him and the ground, she frowned, curling a hand under her chin in thought.

He looked down to see a platform of gray stone had appeared under him. It bore the mark of the Triforce as well as a symbol he recognized as being that of the Sage of Water. Stepping off and a few feet away from it caused it to fade away. He moved back, and it reappeared.

"It seems to be designed to only show itself to those who can use the spell." She tapped the stone with the side of her foot. "Clever. It certainly makes it easier for hiding the locations of the temples."

Sheik had a broad grin on his face. "I did it," he said in a small voice, clutching the harp. "Impa, I really did it!" Practically jumping, he hugged her. Despite all the stress from before, he had shown himself that this was something he could do.

She chuckled and ruffled his hair. "I told you, dear. Now you don't have to worry about feeling bad about what happened before."

He froze. "Vasheel." Letting go of her, he started running off.

"And where do you think you're going?" Her grip on the back of his uniform was too firm for him to wriggle out of.

"He told me not to talk to him unless I had proof." Biting his lip at her dismayed expression, he explained. "Look, I know he's off-putting. He got on my nerves too. But I can tell that this is the right thing to do, and you've always trusted my intuition before."

Impa exhaled and let go. "Very well. I need to go again, but I'll be back soon."

Sheik gave her a quick hug and started off in the direction of the fields.

* * *

A/N: I've been excited about this story for the whole time, but with this part and what I'm doing next it's especially so because I get to have so much happen. I actually had to cut off here because I just kept writing and writing and realized I wouldn't come to another good stopping point for a while. But I haven't finished to that point, so who knows how that might actually affect my speed for the next chapter.

Also, I'm probably the only person who really cares about this, but I'm ending up with a mix of sticking exactly to OoT canon and changing things to work better/be more realistic (like how I've been fudging geography to add things because of how bare some areas of the game are). Just in case anyone was wondering. It's probably going to keep being like that for details. Story-wise, well, you'll just have to wait and see.


	6. Chapter 6

It wasn't until Sheik almost reached Hyrule Field proper that he caught up with Vasheel. Before the boy could even respond to his sudden appearance, Sheik grabbed him around the waist and started carrying him.

Predictably, he started shouting and flailing. "Put me down!" He was half dropped, half tossed, and since they just so happened to be facing a hill, rolled a bit before coming to a stop on the ground. "Ugh… What is wrong with you?"

Sheik leaned over him, hands resting his weight on his bent knees. His response to the shocked expression was a smirk. "I have proof." The tone was overly excited, and he hauled the other up and started dragging him back to the lake by the arm with an ease powered by that same energy. When they got to the shore, he let go and undid the straps holding the harp on his back to pull it out. "Here, I can show you."

Vasheel was still heavily disconcerted from being tossed around, and the pain in his head exacerbated the dizziness. The other's sudden reappearance and manic attitude didn't do much to ease him. He had expected that Sheik would return at some point, but not so soon. Then, he noticed what was happening. "Wait, what are you going to do?" He shuffled back a distance, eyeing the unfamiliar instrument warily.

He responded by playing the harp. The song seemed to echo as it finished and he disappeared into a shower of blue sparkles, leaving the other to look around for him wildly. "Hey! Over here!" The Sheikah called from the far side of the water, revealing where he had been transported.

Vasheel's mouth opened in confusion, but he shook his head and started walking over once it became clear he wasn't getting an answer by shouting across. The first thing he noticed was the stone platform.

"Pretty neat, huh?" Sheik gestured at the image before the other could get too close and have the concealment spell detect him. "See, seal of the Royal Family _and_ the sage. That enough proof for you?"

He frowned. It could have been a construct made to convince him, but it was vaguely recognizable from some old book he had acquired about ancient legends. Vasheel stepped forward towards it, and while it disappeared from sight, the smooth stone could still be felt. Looking up, he said, "You at least could have stood to be less dramatic about the whole thing, you know."

"I'm taking that as a yes."

Turning away, he folded his arms. "Took you long enough, too."

Sheik puffed up angrily. Was he really trying to start something again so soon? "It would have been easier it _someone_ hadn't been so annoying."

"Heh. You're just sensitive."

"Augh!" He clenched his hands into fists and then out in a grip as if to strangle the other. "As if you _aren't_."

Glancing backwards, Vasheel gave what was probably a small grin. "Glad to see we agree on something. Before you get too hopeful, though, I should tell you: I still don't quite trust you."

He blinked. "Why?"

"Well, I believe I was promised involvement in matters that _actually_ concern me. The criminals in town."

"Oh, right." Sheik brightened. He was about to agree and take him, but stopped. "Yes, I understand that. _However_ , this whole time I've been the one to trust you completely and give out valuable information. And you still keep asking me to prove myself without doing a thing to actually deserve it. It's your turn to do something for me. I'm exhausted. We're stopping for a while so I can rest, so if you can show some patience for once and wait, it'll do a lot to make me feel better about what happened earlier. Deal?"

A very long sigh, followed by a pause. "I suppose I can deal with that."

XXXXXXXX

Sheik gave a soft murmur and snuggled further into the ground. With his cowl shifted under his head as a pillow, the grass was comfortable rather than irritating to his face. He buried his head deeper into the fabric, inhaling the scent of grass and a faint hint of fire nearby. _Wait_.

Hissing, he pushed his upper body up with his arms and turned to the side to see Vasheel sitting next to his lantern. "What are you doing?"

He looked up from whatever he had been holding over the fire. "You haven't been asleep long. What does it look like?"

Sheik scooted himself over to the other's side and looked over his shoulder to see a ceramic cup full of items he couldn't identify. Raising his eyebrows, he gave a questioning glance. "I'd have thought you would know how dangerous it is to have a light. I doubt this is that important."

"If someone is close enough to see it, we're in trouble either way." He pushed a stray bit of hair back behind his shoulder and dropped something else in the mix, turning the liquid inside an odd red color. "Besides, if you don't want me passing out on you, I _need_ this."

He stared blankly. "Why didn't you just sleep, then?"

Vasheel continued to focus on the cup, swirling the contents with more concentration than was probably necessary. "Not that kind," he muttered. "Speaking of, though." Finally making eye contact, he reached into the bag and held out some bread.

Not expecting the sudden motion and trained to expect a threat, Sheik flinched back and almost knocked it out of his hand.

A moment of silence passed where they both stared at each other, unsure how to react once they realized what happened. Then Vasheel sighed and ripped off a piece that he ate before dropping the rest in the other's lap. When it remained untouched, he said, "You know I haven't done anything to it, and you look like you haven't eaten since we started."

"Oh." That much was true, although the sudden kindness was startling. Perhaps he was trying to make up for his actions. Sheik slowly picked up the bread and examined it, still a bit hesitant about the unfamiliar food. Not to mention the fact that caution around food offered from anyone had been drilled into him since birth. The outside was speckled with seeds and seemed to have a hint of green in addition to brown, although that could have been the firelight. A darker spot of color suggested there was also fruit in it. Finally deciding that it was unlikely the other would chose to poison him at this point, he chewed a bit of the crust, paused, then smiled and took a larger bite. "It's good. Thank you."

"Hmm. The last thing I need is you getting light-headed on me in the middle of us doing anything important, so finish it all." He was sorting through his bag again. One hand stopped partway in taking something out as he used the other to swat Sheik away from the cup, which was resting on the grass.

He made a face and shook out his hand. So much for being nice.

"Don't drink that; it'll make you sick." Vasheel began picking individual seeds out of his palm and dropping them into the cup just above the surface so they wouldn't splash. Then he wrapped a cloth around his hand and used it to hold the cup over the fire, counting under his breath.

Sheik stretched around him to try to get a look at the bag. On top of it were a number of flowers, all some shade of blue and with long, thin petals stacked in rows and on top of each other in a way that gave the impression of a puffball. A few looked as though they had been taken apart, tiny pieces scattered everywhere. He picked an intact one up and twirled the stem between his fingers. A quiet swear redirected his attention back towards the fire.

" _Farore_." Pulling at the front of his shirt which now had a dark spot on it, he hurriedly placed the cup back down. When the heat had faded enough so that it was just wet, he dropped the shirt. Vasheel pressed down on his temples. "Now I really need this." The mixture in the cup was downed quickly after.

"What is that, anyway?"

He stopped in the middle of picking at the fabric again. Ignoring what the question was actually directed at, he pointed at the flower Sheik was still holding. "That's called Nayru's bloom, both for the color and the way the leaves under the flower, when viewed from the side," he tilted the other's hand slightly, "make it look like the goddess's symbol. It's a strong ingredient good for improving certain remedies, but it changes the composition of whatever you're making, so it's risky to use unless you know what you're doing."

Vasheel hadn't actually let go of him after grabbing his hand, so Sheik took the opportunity to pull away, a bit rougher than needed. "That wasn't what I meant."

"It's for when you keep asking me all those questions." His expression suggested he wasn't being entirely sarcastic, although the comment was enough to discourage probing further.

Sheik had figured what was meant, though. He had thought the boy was having some kind of issue with his head earlier because of the noise sensitivity, and this supported it. Although it did make him wonder how much of a problem it actually was if he was using stronger plants to deal with it, assuming the explanation was to be trusted.

"I trust you're ready now?" Vasheel had packed everything away and gotten up, leaving only the lantern and Sheik still on the ground.

He nodded and pointed in the direction of the town. "Shall we, then?"

XXXXXXXX

The barest hints of the sunrise came into the sky as Sheik crouched on the rooftop, hidden behind the chimney as he clung to every sound he could catch from the people down below. At the moment, there was only confused muttering and a bit of movement, making it frustratingly impossible to predict their actions. He looked over to a nearby tree, where Vasheel could just be seen through the branches.

When he noticed the Sheikah's gaze, he rolled his head sarcastically as if to say 'well, now what?' and made a few motions with his hands.

Sheik only knew a few Hylian signs, but he didn't recognize anything the other was doing. He suspected it was because they were actually just rude gestures. Shrugging, he pressed a finger to his mouth. As long as Vasheel stayed still and quiet, all he had to worry about was himself. When his concentration did go back to below, he frowned and very slowly began to edge across the roof to determine why everything had suddenly gone silent.

They had actually done well in getting to the hideout, a small hut just out of sight of the village that looked like it was used for storage by the farmers. Faint noises could be heard within, so after a hastily whispered discussion and some emphatic pointing, Vasheel hid in the bushes just under the single window while Sheik climbed up the side to see if he could find anything from the roof. As he was just getting onto it, a few loose tiles were dislodged, breaking on the ground and alerting those inside. Vasheel had just managed to scramble up a tree before half a dozen people spilled out and started shouting at each other in confusion.

Leaning out from around the chimney, Sheik could just make out a few figures clustered around the torchlight. He laid down on his stomach and crawled almost to the edge of the roof.

"There's no-one around here. Let's just go back." The one holding the light swung it around as if to demonstrate.

Another voice scoffed, speaking with a tone suggesting they were the one in charge. "I know I heard something. Break up and search the area. They can't have gotten far."

The group broke up in different directions, but stopped when a small voice asked, "You think it's her?"

"Who else would it be? I've known the mayor's bodyguard's been suspicious of me since she got here. But you can't prove anything if you don't have the chance to make it back. Now go. We'll reconvene here."

Sheik remained exactly where he was until he was confident any sounds made by them had faded away. Well, while that talk hadn't confirmed anything, the fact that they were so paranoid and obviously had something to hide certainly suggested they were up to something bad. Now, if only he could find out what it was.

A thud from somewhere to his left shocked him out of his thoughts and he jumped up with a knife in his hand. Scanning the area, he noticed slight sounds coming from the undergrowth of the trees. Once he saw movement, he threw the knife.

There was a shout, and a head of pale-purple hair emerged. "Watch it!" Vasheel hissed, clutching the side of his arm.

"Well, what are you doing?" He was forced to nearly slide off the roof as the other ignored him and hurried towards the door. "Hey," he grabbed Vasheel just as he tried to walk in. "you didn't know if it was empty! Besides, they're coming back." Sheik moved as if to leave, hoping the other would follow.

Instead, Vasheel pulled away and towards the building. They had come this far, and he wasn't about to waste their effort so soon. "And we might as well use the time they're gone to our advantage."

Sheik groaned and leaned into the doorpost. "Do you really think they would have left anything valuable just lying around?" He paused when he didn't receive any response, then looked inside. It seemed almost smaller on the inside, the walls lined with tools and clothing, a small worktable in the center taking up most of the floor space. There were no chairs. He wondered at how they had managed to fit six people in there at once. Vasheel was mysteriously not visible, despite there being nowhere he could really hide. "Hey," he called softly.

Shuffling came from under the table, then a soft impact. "Shit." In another moment, Vasheel crawled backwards out from under the table, papers crumpled in his hand. He slowly sat up, finally noticing the Sheikah once he had pulled his hair back from where it had fallen in front of his face. The papers were dropped on the table, revealing what looked like a few scribbled maps. "How about these?" He leaned over them. "See, these lines look an awful lot like trade routes, considering the way they connect all the towns and food-providing areas. And this," he tapped on one of the circles drawn around part of a line, "is pretty suspicious as well. They're all in isolated areas, a few hours from any town. Good spot for ambushes, maybe."

Sheik made a noise. It certainly did look like some kind of plans.

He slid another paper from the pile. "Hmm. I'd say rough lists of the supplies being carried from one place to another, all with a lot of numbers scribbled in the columns."

"Oh, you _can_ read."

Vasheel wrinkled his nose and glared. "What is that supposed to mean?"

He backed off from the table. "I just meant that I knew not everyone in Hyrule can, and I hadn't wanted to assume..."

"I would hardly have allowed myself not to have so valuable an ability. Especially when you consider its capacity for information." His gaze was fixed on the ceiling, as though he were hoping to break it open just by looking at it.

"Alright, I'm sorry. But what are we going to do with these? They're surely going to notice if they just go missing." Studying one, he smiled. "But it shouldn't be too bad to copy out; there are only a few pages. Come on, you've got to have something to write with."

After crossing his arms and giving a heavy sigh, Vasheel finally dropped a few loose papers and ink on the table. Grabbing one of the plans with a hiss, he started furiously rewriting the list.

Sheik took the two maps, doing his best to get the details down accurately. He stopped every few minutes to glance out the door for signs of anyone returning, eventually stopping altogether. "We should go, now."

"Give them a moment to dry."

"No, I'm serious. I think I see a light." Yanking the originals off the table and out of the other's reach, he glanced around the room. "Where were these?"

Wordlessly, Vasheel took them back and leaned under the table, curling his fingertips into the area between two planks of wood to lift up a loose floorboard. He dropped the papers inside. At the Sheikah's insisting, the copies went back in the bag between the few blank sheets he still had and they dashed out into the fading night.

They were nearly off the path to the field when the sound of voices ahead stopped them. Sheik froze in place. This was their only way out. While he was probably capable of taking them out if he was seen, it wasn't a guarantee, especially if the now slightly visible forms turned out to be all six of them. Besides, that many deaths would be bound to attract attention. The only thing that shocked him out of the ever-faster beating of his heart was the sudden grip on his shoulder.

Vasheel was pulling at him. "Unless you can think of some way to get rid of them, we need to move," he hissed, stepping back.

"Wait. I have an idea." It was a risky one, but there was no other way he could see of moving forward. He concentrated his magic in front of him, shaping the little light available to bend, forming a shape. Then, forcing himself to breathe as he had when learning it, he pushed it as far from him as his magical limits allowed and added power to let it solidify into something visible. When he noticed the people start moving in that direction, he took off the other way, not stopping until he was well into Hyrule Field.

Vasheel had just barely been able to keep up, being slower and having started behind him, and was now leaned over, panting. "That figure – was that you?"

He nodded, suddenly very lightheaded.

"I wouldn't have expected you to be able to do such complicated magic. How did you-hey!" He grabbed Sheik under the arms and lowered him to the ground to prevent him from falling.

Once Sheik managed to stop himself from shaking so much, he laughed. "You know, that almost sounded like a compliment."

Ignoring him, Vasheel took a small pouch out of his bag and dropped it on his lap.

He held it up to his face. It probably wasn't dangerous, but his habits were still hard to break. "What is this?"

"Potion." He started fussing with the bangs in front of the right side of his face. "I'm surprised you've managed this far, considering the way you push yourself."

Sheik carefully drank it, wincing a little at the taste. "It's _bitter_."

"It's meant to be. A lot of people think red potion should be sweet, but that's because most potion-makers don't do it right. The mixture is supposed to be cooked twice as long if it's really going to be as effective as possible." He sounded almost as if he were lecturing. "Not to mention the cheaper ingredients that get used."

Sensing a rant, Sheik cut him off by flinging the empty container at him. "Well, I certainly appreciate your concern." He didn't mention that it was the second time the boy had given help that night, figuring it would aggravate him. "You know a lot about this stuff, huh?"

Vasheel rolled his eyes. "You honestly believe someone would put me up if I wasn't useful?"

Sheik did have to admit anyone who wasn't patient or equally stubborn would absolutely have problems living around Vasheel. But he still felt compelled disagree. "People aren't that heartless, you know."

"It takes a bit more than generosity when the price for hiding a _Sheikah_ ," his emphasis on the word suggested harm if it was taken as actually meant to describe him, "is death." He stood, brushing off his clothes. "Which reminds me. As excited as you might be to talk to me again, if you go into Kakariko to get to me, it's off right then and there. I'm not putting my security and ability to hide in the town at risk because of someone else's actions. Understood?"

"Alright. I'm sure we can work out something with meeting outside town" Sheik followed, pushing himself up only slightly unsteadily. "Wait, then that means you're definitely still interested in working together?" He perked up considerably.

Vasheel frowned. "As long as it still appears to benefit me, yes."

Well, considering how things had gone, it was definitely a start. Sheik began walking back in the direction of Kakariko. "Heh, I'm sure we can find some way to convince you."

* * *

Aquila: So I've discovered I like making up fake plants/explanations for in-game healing items and food way too much. It's probably the combination of extra worldbuilding with the games I get to do and getting to see exactly how many and what kinds of references I can make with them. I'm considering making something, probably on Tumblr, where I can just dump all my ideas. That way I have another outlet for it and I only put the bits that fit into the story here. Also, I do have to admit I know almost nothing about actual plants, so if I say something that makes no sense in that topic, that's why.


	7. Chapter 7

Aquila: Well, it's been a bit longer since the last time I updated. I've gotten busier recently, but I'm certainly not stopping.

* * *

"Will you at least either admit you find me useless or actually start using my help?" Vasheel snapped at Impa. His palms were already covered with crescent marks as he dug his fingernails into the skin. It was all he could do not to shout at her more than he already had.

Her stern look only added to the tension as she slowly crossed her arms, studying him. "I already told you that what you have done was incredibly helpful – we've sabotaged the group's efforts to steal food supplies multiple times. It's just that what we are involved in is too dangerous for you."

He huffed. "You mean just because I'm not one of you-"

" _I mean_ that the situations have a high risk of escalating into combat and I cannot guarantee your safety." Impa was breathing a bit more roughly, trying not to let the boy's barely-halted insult get to her. Now that he had actually accepted the idea of being part of their mission, his stubbornness had switched to being used to insist that he be involved in everything.

Vasheel had just opened his mouth to say something else when Sheik stepped between them. He backed towards Impa almost instantly when he became the recipient of a glare, but remained facing the other boy. "Look, we think we're getting close to stopping them, and then once we get to doing more investigation work you can come again."

Growling in the back of his throat, Vasheel continued to stare him down. While the Sheikah had placated him multiple times over the past few weeks, the fact that the promises were always the same was starting to grate on him. At least Impa was being honest in her bluntness. "Exactly what kind of plans do you even have that take that long to work? At the very least, I could fix _those_."

Sheik chewed on his lower lip. "We're just trying to be careful."

"Oh, so it isn't because you're afraid after all."

"Impa pulled Sheik beside her and addressed the other. "I doubt any input on our plans would be helpful if that is your idea of being constructive." Continuing, she talked over his growing anger. "Considering how patient you had been, I _was_ going to mention that you should accompany us on another search for a temple because I was worried there might be some thieves' hideout near there, but since you clearly can't control yourself…" Purposefully trailing off, she allowed herself a slight show of amusement as she watched his reaction.

Vasheel's first instinct was to shout at her about why she hadn't said anything earlier, but realized the intent behind the remark. He pushed down the rising heat and pressure building in his chest and breathed. His eyes only left her when he was sure he could contain himself. "You don't say." The calm was still strained. Another round of breaths, tensing and relaxing muscles. He tried again. "That certainly sounds promising."

She nodded once as if satisfied, then turned to her student. "Are you alright to go now?" When he agreed, Impa led them out of the underground cavern they were in, replacing the woven grass and vines covered in dirt, rocks, and more grass that hid the entrance.

As they walked, they fell into a rhythm of Impa guiding while Sheik varied from being right behind her to next to Vasheel. A few times he made some leading comment and once a direct question about some plant they passed, but Vasheel stayed quiet, only making minimal sounds in response. He was still more irritated than usual because of before. The edge was heightened by the fact that last time they had met up, Sheik had asked some seemingly innocuous question about his family and he had snapped at it. Only when they stopped by the edge of a river did Vasheel stop silently ignoring his surroundings and look at where they were.

"You're kidding," he muttered, wrinkling his nose.

Impa's forward gaze betrayed no emotion. "This is indeed risky, but we have no choice. The longer we wait, the more likely it becomes that Ganondorf will return, and at that point it will be impossible to safely get to the temple."

Sheik shot him a concerned look upon noticing the way he was backing up from the broken remnants of the drawbridge into what was once Castle Town. He had a lot of bad memories associated with this place himself, but the town itself shouldn't be anything to be afraid of.

"I'm not going in there." There was no trace of anger or irritation in his voice, although he tried to sound so. He couldn't hide the small tremors that his body made as he continued to back up.

Impa put a hand on Sheik's shoulder and shook her head at him. "Very well. Wait somewhere nearby for us. We won't be long." She thought for a moment, adding, "Then perhaps we can discuss our strategy for the lake town."

Once Vasheel was out of sight, Sheik turned to her. "Why did you stop me?"

She sighed. "I know you meant to help, but I can tell saying anything or pushing would only have made it worse." For the first time, Sheik thought she actually looked sympathetic towards the boy. "Besides, we're bound to have our own difficulties going through here." Offering her hand, Impa led him through the gate.

XXXXXXXX

The first thing that Sheik noticed was the noise. Or rather, the lack of it. Even in the relative emptiness of the fields, at the very least there were birds and insects. As they made their way around the buildings, he found himself unable to deny how even his light footsteps echoed around the area.

Impa tightened her grip on his hand the further they went through, increasing her pace as she led him on the most direct route she knew. Despite her mind telling her there couldn't possibly be any life in the area, she couldn't stop the sense that something was watching them.

A beam of wood slid off the roof, landing in front of them. Impa yanked Sheik behind her and dropped her weight, scanning the everywhere for any sign of other movement. When nothing else happened, she inched forward, every muscle tensed.

Sheik didn't even bother to try to get out of her grip, as awkward as it was to walk so close behind her that not tripping over her took all his concentration. He only looked up upon registering the change in the floor from cobblestones to smooth marble. They were in the Temple of Time. A few moments of standing inside the temple proper allowed enough of its light magic to soak into him that he felt secure enough to speak. "It's like the place is dead."

Impa frowned. She knew why he would think to call it that, since the princess's main experiences of the place had been views of its business from afar. But she had witnessed what a truly dead place was like. At this point, though, she wasn't confident that it would be better or worse than how absolutely empty Castle Town was. It was too perfectly untouched by anything but the weather for her liking. There hadn't even been any weeds growing in cracks in the street or sides of buildings. "We must keep our guard up on the way back. Thank Nayru we only have this one task to perform."

Taking her hint, Sheik walked further inside. This time, he knew exactly what he was doing, and they could be leaving in less than an hour. But the sight of the far wall, the open Door of Time beyond the altar where the Spiritual Stones sat, stopped him as he had to force himself to breathe. Memories of their last visit came to him, unbidden.

After the initial meeting with Link, she had snuck out with Impa's help to check on the place. Everything had seemed so sure back then. All they had to do was keep the stones away from Ganondorf, and he would be powerless to continue his plans. Even when the attack on the castle forced her to flee and leave the ocarina in Link's possession, she had never imagined that things could have gone so wrong.

She had been a fool then, to just assume that things would go so well, considering her ignorance of everything. That was why, this time, he refused to leave things up to chance. While the prophetic dreams he still had from time to time suggested his role should remain one of passively informing the hero, he wasn't so trusting in fate as before. But that would have to wait until the time was right.

Sheik finally choked down the urge to cry, bracing himself to walk around the altar and toward the Pedestal of Time. It was empty now, the sword being with Link as he waited out the years.

Pushing his bangs out of his face, he looked up into the stained glass above. What was it now, three years left? Maybe even closer to two. He could hardly believe he had actually lost track. Sheik stepped around the spot, whispering the name of each sage's symbol as he passed it. _Shadow, Spirit, Water, Fire, Forest,_ finally stopping once he reached Light. It was the only one not to have its respective temple also serve as a dungeon since the sage was already awakened, being the only surviving member of those who had been called to attend to the land during the wars. Sheik could faintly sense him here, aided by recognition. They had briefly met when Sheik had awakened himself as leader of the sages.

 _"It's nice to have a visitor after so long."_

 _Sheik startled in his meditative state. He had been concentrating on his magic again, practicing to try to break through and get his mind into the Sacred Realm. Now it seemed to have worked._

 _The voice came into his head again. "Why don't you open your eyes so we can speak face-to-face?"_

 _He did so, with some initial difficulty as his body resisted movement after sitting still for so long. Or at least because that was what he expected would happen. His physical form remained in the cavern with Impa – this was a projection of himself. Vision revealed that he was in a semi-lit chamber, seemingly with no walls or ceiling. A constant stream of water fell from the sides of the platform, although the center area he sat on was raised above it. When he turned, there was an old man standing across from him on a circular gold platform. A name fell into his mind as smoothly as water over glass. "Rauru?"_

 _The man gave a slow, graceful bow of his head. "Indeed. Although I must say, I was expecting the princess."_

 _"I_ am _the princess," he retorted, although it had less force than he intended. Sheik stood, gesturing at himself as if to justify his statement. Not that he looked the part, barefoot and dressed in an approximation of a child's Sheikah uniform, baggy blues and grays with the bold eye symbol in red. Although he supposed his body was the bigger detractor. The appearance-altering spell had been the first thing they'd worked on once in a place of relative safety. She'd insisted on being Sheikah, "just like you, Impa!" and had agreed to being a boy to enhance the disguise, although his lack of discomfort about it made him feel odd considering it as a false appearance. Even then, the changes on a ten-year-old weren't drastic; what took the longest getting used to was contrast of red eyes against his dark skin._

 _"Hmm, yes, of course." The way his eyebrows remained arched betrayed some hesitance, but he continued. "Well, it is an honor to finally meet our leader. You have a long path ahead of you, especially for one so young. Unfortunately, I have little to offer besides my trust and the hope the Goddesses will guide you to a path of peace." He smiled, the same kind of small, sad smile that Sheik had gotten used to seeing on Impa over the past few weeks, before bowing once more and fading away._

Sheik drew forth his harp again and played, using the presence as an anchor. Ages seemed to pass as almost-memories flickered past him, blossoming and fading with each note until the song ended. He shifted his sight from magical to normal senses and found himself back near the entrance, still on the Light symbol, just as part of another stone platform. A hand was offered to him, and he stepped off toward Impa.

She slid an arm over his shoulder in a side hug and led him out of the temple and into town. There, they switched so they were facing opposite one another, on alert for signs of life. This time, the silence was only broken when they reached the field and exhaled together.

Vasheel was easy enough to locate, sitting in the branches of a nearby tree. Close enough, but still hidden. He did jump at the sound of their approach, but recovered quickly enough to slide down to them as soon as they got there. The nervousness he had left them with was completely gone, replaced with his usual confidence. "I have a plan."

"Oh?" While Impa was wary of what he might suggest, at least this was more comfortable to deal with than the odd mood from earlier. She moved them behind a row of bushes that hid them from view and sat, indicating for them to join her.

Before they could properly settle, Vasheel pounced on them, spreading papers flat on the grass. "Show me exactly where you've intercepted them, with details of each encounter." The now-lit lantern joined the maps on the ground, its clunk on impact punctuating his enthusiasm.

She tapped two of the marks along the trade routes. "Here, a week and a half ago, and here a week before that, most recently. It's always been five of them aiming for small carriages of two or three, never anything they couldn't outnumber. We had scouted locations ahead of time and used what we thought to be dates," she indicated a few numbers written on the spots, "to find out when to strike."

"Not going to work for much longer," Vasheel mused, leaning over the paper to study all the other markings. "They're bound to be suspicious already, all these direct attacks."

"They weren't direct." Impa nudged the light closer. "We arrived earlier than them and waited. Then, we simply made it seem as though they were getting in their own way. Someone tripping at an important moment, a throw that just missed its target, being just a little too noisy not to be noticed." Her smile was amplified by the firelight. "Small things, but enough to ruin plans."

His eyes widened. "Make them think it's their own incompetence. They wouldn't even consider an outside force. You managed all that without detection?"

"The Sheikah aren't known as the Shadow Tribe for nothing. Years of training."

Vasheel's expression didn't change, but he nodded, eyes closed. "Yes, but is that enough to stop them permanently? What would you do if you felt it was your underlings' lack of ability that was hindering you?"

Impa frowned. "Increase their training. Ensure they gained the necessary skills before attempting anything else."

"Or get rid of them, but either way," he said, almost bored, "it's not going to stop their leader."

She sat up straight, crossing her arms. "And I suppose _you_ know what will?"

Vasheel grinned, the kind that stood out brightly, even with his pale skin. It gave an impression of teeth slightly sharper than they were. "Of course."

XXXXXXXX

A small flame illuminated the interior of the hut outside the lake town, its flickering the only evidence the place was occupied. Vasheel stared the window down as he hunched over the edge of the hill, counting the seconds with the rolling taps of his fingertips. For this to work, the timing had to be right.

A few taps too many had him clenching his jaw until noises from the far end of the building signaled the first arrival. The door opened, barely long enough to have let someone out but still enough for the light to show. At this range, he could only make out shouting. But this was as close as he dared.

As it continued, he made a low growl under his breath. If the other didn't appear in a few seconds, they would have deviated too far from his calculations and the whole thing would be a loss. Tension spread through him as he raised his shoulders.

He was so wound up that when something moved next to him, Vasheel only managed not to scream and attack it because of how quickly he was restrained.

"Where's Sheik?" Impa lifted her hand barely an inch away from his mouth so he could whisper, still not letting go of his arms.

"I don't know, but if he's been found, this isn't going to work." His only movement was the continual drumming to keep time.

Her grip on the area just above his elbow tightened, to the point where he suspected it might start bruising. "We'd have more to worry about than that if anything happens to him." She pulled him closer to the ground. "And keep down; you're quite visible."

Vasheel started. "I'm far away enough that they couldn't possibly see me." A thought came to him, and he frowned. "I don't understand how _you_ even found me so easily. It's not like I told you exactly where I-"

"Ssh." Impa covered his mouth again. "It's really only working because they're not looking this way. It takes skill to be able to hide from someone who knows what to look for." She tilted her head up slightly. "The other's here."

The resumption of shouts hid any other sounds until Sheik appeared in front of them, panting. "Done."

She nodded. "Alright. Second step. We need to be quick about it."

Vasheel slid out of her loosened grip as though he could have done so at any time, brushing his sleeves off and not looking at them. "I'm going with you this time. Things are messed up as it is and I'm not going to let anything happen that I could have prevented."

Impa stared at him blankly.

By this point, Sheik had recovered enough breath to interject. "No offense, but there's a reason why that wasn't part of the original plan. You're kind of a liability." The last part was said quieter, hesitantly. He mentally prepared for the other's reaction, and was therefore surprised when Vasheel simply tugged at the edge of his collar and said, "fine. You should hurry, though."

"…okay." Pausing as Impa left, Sheik glanced back at the other, who was intently studying the hut.

Not even bothering to look away, he waved a hand. "Shoo, go to your task."

Sheik shrugged before taking off, keeping to the far left of the path, stopping where it diverged towards town and the lake. He spent a few minutes appraising the area, then moved to a spot on the lake side that would be just within an average person's vision in the dark before stepping back off the road.

What was probably a few minutes passed as he waited for a signal to start. A rustling behind him prompted a jump that ended with landing on another person. He sighed. "Really?"

Vasheel made a noise somewhere between a growl and a hiss. "You honestly believe I would have chosen to stay? You're even more gullible than I thought."

"I'd be more surprised, but this is exactly something you'd do." Instead of releasing him, Sheik shifted his weight so he was sitting on Vasheel's back, effectively trapping him since his arms and legs had been curled under him. "Now be quiet and stop fidgeting. You're better off here at the moment because at least then I can make sure you won't be noticed." He leaned in close to Vasheel's face, smirking. "If you don't stop, then you won't even have the chance to blame me if this fails. In case you forgot, I'm supposed to be doing things besides looking after you."

As the continued struggles began to make it difficult for him to remain steady, Sheik pulled them both into sitting upright, making a few quick jabs at Vasheel before he could escape. Seeing the venomous expression he gave when he noticed the effects, Sheik held his hands out in front of him. "You haven't exactly given me a choice, okay. Besides, it's not permanent." With a quick glance to make sure he was enough out of the way, Sheik left Vasheel, hurrying back to his position by the road.

XXXXXXXX

No matter how hard he struggled, Vasheel still couldn't fight the sudden lack of sensation that had spread throughout his limbs. None of them were responding. It wasn't that they had gone numb; he wasn't even sure if he would notice if one of them was injured, there was so little sensory input. It was incredibly disconcerting, since it drastically reduced where he was receiving input from, and since he was using the same amount of attention, those sensations seemed amplified. In particular was the roughness of grass against the side of his face and neck, which was normally tolerable, but now made him want to scream. Besides that, his bangs had shifted and were now covering most of his face rather than just one side. Vasheel forced himself to ease his breathing. He had to distract himself.

How had the Sheikah even managed to do this in the first place? He had read descriptions of paralysis-inducing potions, but that had been the only way as far as he knew, and even then they could inflict permanent damage if made too strongly. Perhaps it had to do with the areas of the body. Sheik had appeared to be concentrating on accuracy when hitting, so it could mean that they controlled sensation, or at least those connections.

He growled. This wasn't really getting him anywhere besides frustrating him more, since it upset him that someone else had knowledge he didn't, especially in this area. How dare they use that against him to leave him like this. He wasn't some child who couldn't take care of themself. The plan was his, and they just-

A sudden flare of light froze him completely. _Shit_. It was awfully close to him, and he thought he could make out a number of figures. There was no way he wouldn't be found, and thanks to _that headache_ , he was completely defenseless. His mind raced as he went through options. No matter who it was, he wouldn't be getting out of this alive. His breathing came in gasps as he tried to contain himself from completely losing over to panic, desperately trying to find a solution.

Then he heard the shouting. Had he been noticed? Vasheel found some of his energy turning to anger. He couldn't fight now, but they wouldn't kill him immediately, so there was always a chance…

The light shifted, gradually fading as it moved away from him, taking the voices with it. Vasheel laid there for a moment, confusion growing. By the time his heart had slowed towards normal, he remembered, breaking into a shuddering laugh. In getting so upset, he'd momentarily forgotten his own plan. He'd never been in danger.

Another while of stillness finally gave his rationality enough voice to start analyzing the situation again. As far as he could tell, things had worked on this side, which was promising. He was curious, though. Vasheel had thought he understood Sheik's abilities, but that illusion had to have taken massive amounts of magic to sustain, and considering where he thought the Sheikah's skills and magical capacity to be, it should have been impossible. The more he recognized how much he didn't know about both of those two, the more he was questioning continuing to be involved with them as he was. Besides, they had a lot of valuable information that he could certainly benefit from.

Vasheel did his best to stretch his neck and shoulders as he waited, his mind occupied with thoughts of how best to approach the idea.

XXXXXXXX

Sheik _had_ felt slightly bad about just leaving Vasheel, but there hadn't been enough time to get through his head that he would be in the way. Especially once you factored in dealing with his reaction to said explanation. He forced the feelings to the side and concentrated on what was in front of him. No-one had appeared yet, thank the goddesses, but he had to be absolutely prepared for when they did. Hands clasped together, Sheik tried to concentrate on generating magic and ignore their shakiness. In a moment, he had a store built up, eventually pushing it to hopefully be enough to be sufficient for when he needed access to it right away. This was still new to him, and he prayed he hadn't messed it up.

Whispering and the sounds of hurried movement came from down the road. Probably on schedule, but Sheik had completely lost track of that a while ago. That didn't matter now, though. He began pushing magical energy into his open palms, shivering as the warmth in his body moved with it. _Careful, not so fast_. Just as the faint outlines of individual people appeared in his vision, he released the spell, casting an illusion around himself. The light forced him to blink rapidly to regain sight, but when he could see again, it seemed to be a passable construct. Not from where he was, but it would certainly convince the already-frightened observers from their distance. The spell gave the impression of a small crowd, distant and carrying lanterns. Mostly, it was large, dark shapes around a few spots of light.

The people had skidded to a halt, louder now. Nothing intelligible, although it seemed like they were arguing about what to do.

Sheik grinned and, with an effort that momentarily dizzied him, shifted the illusion forward, slowly approaching them. He had to contain himself as they bolted back the way they'd come as soon as they noticed, powering his continued efforts on that amusement. Once they reached the point where the road split and went back towards the hideout, he dropped the magic, stumbling. There was a moment when he considered going back for Vasheel right away, but decided he was exhausted enough. Sheik retraced his earlier route until he met up with Impa just outside the hut. "What's happening?"

She nodded in the direction of the building. "It's working out just as we'd hoped. Where's Vasheel?"

He bit his lip. "He followed me, so I kind of had to persuade him to stay put for his own good."

"I expected as much." Her mouth dipped into a frown as the sight in front of her. "Interesting."

While Sheik had been drawing all the thieves back to one location, Impa had gone into town and made it seem as though they were sneaking around there, alerting the townspeople, who followed it towards the hideout. When the group had realized they were in danger of discovery, they had tried to run out a different way, only to find it blocked by other approaching people. In this way, Impa and Sheik had kept them trapped long enough to be caught by the real townspeople.

At the moment, the village soldiers were being directed to arrest them by a tall, sharp-featured woman who stood in the doorway, occasionally turning to speak with someone searching the interior.

"Is she…?" Impa whispered, trailing off when she noticed Sheik paying attention to her.

Pointing to the woman, he explained, "That's the mayor's bodyguard. She's also in charge of the town's defense. I did some digging on her, since she was the one the leader was most paranoid about."

She hummed lightly. "I recognize her: she was a new recruit at the castle not long before. Brighter than most of them."

Sheik leaned forward. "You think she'll be alright dealing with them?"

"Likely." Her previous frown deepened and her nose twitched the same way as whenever he had tried to get out of something. "Considering their resources and having no-one to report to, they'll probably execute the lot. Entirely unnecessary, but they would see that as their best option."

" _Good_." He was scowling and his eyes were icy, distant.

It took a moment of closing her eyes before she could respond, in a warning tone. "Sheik, please dear."

He didn't move.

" _Sheik_." Impa put her hand on top of his left one, which was clenched into a fist. Nothing more was said, but as the townspeople left with their prisoners and her grip stayed firm, she felt his tension gradually ease. Once his hand loosened, she curled hers around it. Tilting her head towards his when he leaned into her shoulder, she sighed lightly.

"We should probably go get Vasheel."

XXXXXXXX

The final vestiges of paralysis were just leaving his body as the two Sheikah returned. Vasheel bounced his leg as he watched them approach. He hadn't been able to come up with a way of asking for information that didn't sound either forceful or apologetic. So, he had decided that he might as well be honest and hope they understood the benefits of actually listening to him. "Well?" His face stayed neutral, but the tone had a hint of expectancy.

Sheik stopped a ways from him, while Impa stood over him, inspecting his movements. "Everything worked as planned. They have all been apprehended, and won't be causing any more trouble."

He grinned. "Of course. My ideas always work out." Standing up and rolling his shoulders, he yawned. "Shall we, then?"

As they went, Sheik attempted to keep a faster pace without making it obvious. No doubt at some point Vasheel was going to confront him for what he'd done earlier, and he _really_ wanted to avoid that for as long as possible. Therefore, he flinched when Vasheel nudged his side.

"I saw your spell," he murmured, "based on what I'd seen before, I wouldn't have thought you were capable of something on that scale."

"Well, since you told us your plan, I've been practicing it," Sheik admitted, still on guard for an outburst.

Vasheel took a step closer. "And I can't begin to imagine where you learned where to incapacitate someone so efficiently. Not to mention that I didn't notice you until you chose for me to."

"Alright, what do you want from me?" It was either that or he had accidentally messed with Vasheel's head when he hit him. This was getting ridiculous.

He scoffed. "You think I would bother with flattery if I only wanted something? I was simply admitting that I recognize your competence. Is that so hard to understand?" Admittedly, he understood why the Sheikah had said it, but he also took offense to the fact that the concept of him being capable of being nice was apparently so foreign.

Sheik paused. All of it had actually been said in a genuine tone, but it was so unexpected coming from Vasheel that he didn't know how to react. Noticing that Impa had started to pay more attention to the conversation from the way she tilted her head ever so slightly to the side, Sheik did his best not to sound flustered. "Fine. While we're admitting things, that plan of yours was really well-thought out and smart."

Rather than throwing him off, the comment only made Vasheel shrug, giving Sheik a smug grin.

"Look, it's not as if I'm used to you acting like this," he stammered, beginning to think this was just his way of getting revenge.

Stepping back towards Sheik when he tried to move away, Vasheel smiled even more. He couldn't help himself, since Sheik's reactions were just too enjoyable. "Would you prefer it if I went back to criticizing you?"

"No!" He immediately closed his mouth upon realizing how he'd reacted. In an attempt to end the conversation, he crossed his arms and glared deliberately in the opposite direction.

They walked in silence for a while before Vasheel decided it was safe to continue. "Alright, look. I was serious when I said that. I also have to admit that you know some valuable skills, and I want to know how they work."

At this point, Impa decided to step in. She studied Vasheel. "Are you asking us to teach you?" When he reluctantly nodded, she huffed. "Well, then. I never would have thought you would want anything to do with _Sheikah_ training." Her voice took on an amused tone at the way he startled at the word. "Very well, then." She continued ahead to them. "I'll just have to figure out how best to work this."


	8. Chapter 8

Vasheel's eyelids fluttered as he struggled to keep them closed in the stifling quiet around him. Even as he nearly held his breath in trying to reduce noise, nothing else could be detected. He let out a breathless gasp when a faint shuffling came from behind him. Jaw clenched, he did his best to stop the trembling of his hands against his sides. _Don't move, don't move. Stay still_. The slow approach of the noise forced extra concentration into maintaining his posture, but at the cost of other areas. A quick exhale came out louder than intended. Something jabbed him in the leg and he shouted as he lost balance and fell over.

"Dead." He opened his eyes to Impa standing over him, hands on her hips. She stared dispassionately for a moment before offering help getting up. "You're improving, but as soon as you focus on one thing, you let go of everything else. It's better to have a balance of multiple things than be perfect in one area, or you'll rely on that forever."

A curt nod.

"Let's try again." Impa looked back at him as she moved away, re-extinguishing the light. "And try to work on not reacting so much when you do get caught."

Vasheel started and glared at her. While the confidence in her abilities was far from baseless, he would have appreciated her being a little less blunt about it. But he shouldn't be focusing on that now. When Impa signaled, he closed his eyes and went back to staying as still as possible. She, similarly blind, would try to locate him. It hadn't been going well so far. While he felt he was silent, she found him within minutes every time. At frustrating as it was, it was at least better than what he'd been doing the last few times.

When he first arrived, he hadn't known what to expect. Impa had been waiting outside of the hiding place, but instead of leading him inside, motioned to a spot a little ways away. Sitting down, she indicated for him to join her. "I know you're going to argue about this, so let me explain first. There are many components of Sheikah training, but we are only focusing on the things you will actually need." The look on her face was distant, wistful. "Given the current situation in Hyrule, staying hidden is the priority, because none of us would last long if we were noticed. Therefore, we're only going to work on stealth training." She raised her eyebrows at him. "Understand?"

Her gentle treatment left him suspicious. Either she had happened to have a very similar conversation with Sheik that she was remembering, or he wasn't going to like what happened next. Vasheel dipped his head once in agreement. He'd find out soon enough.

Echoing his movement, she continued. "Then what I want you to do is close your eyes and observe your surroundings with your other senses." Her voice raised slightly. "This is a form of awareness training that allows you to be better prepared for threats. But it requires patience."

And then she had left him there for a few hours, allegedly because he had to get used to the idea of staying in one place and build up endurance. She had been right to explain first. If she'd simply told him what to do and explained later, he would have left. That didn't make it much more pleasant, though.

Vasheel's recollection was interrupted with a grip on his arm that pulled him to the side and off-balance again.

Impa gave him a concerned look. "Are you even trying to concentrate?"

" _Yes_ ," he lied. "It's not my fault you seem to have ridiculously good senses. It seems impossible that you would be that good without cheating, looking or something."

Her mouth opened to respond, but she was interrupted.

"Give him a rest, Impa. You have been doing this for a while." Sheik was seated on the floor behind them, legs crossed and leaning forward on one hand.

Vasheel frowned at him. "When did you get here?"

"I came in before you started this last time," he said, absently pulling his cowl down. "Just wanted to observe."

"Well, you're going to help when we start up again." Impa paused next to him on her way out. "Alright?"

"No problem," he shrugged. Sheik's attention turned to Vasheel. "You know, you're pretty good at sensing things at least. Maybe you could try-"

Vasheel waved him away as he laid down. "I don't want to think about it right now." He was met with silence, then a small grunt that sounded like the other was getting up and leaving. Great. Now his mind was continuing to analyze what was going on around him without trying. That was probably a good thing, but right now that extra effort was exhausting him.

He flinched when a puff of air hit his face as a blanket was dropped next to him. A "really?" came out muffled as he spoke into the ground.

"I figured it would be more comfortable than being directly on rock." Vasheel could almost feel an unspoken 'you're welcome.'

"Hmph." After debating whether to leave it, Vasheel decided it wasn't worth the discomfort and tugged the blanket around him. "I suppose." The Sheikah was too nice sometimes. What made it even weirder was the fact that he obviously thought nothing of it. Someone being kind for its own sake was a foreign concept to Vasheel, and he didn't know how to process it, other than half-acknowledging that it _might_ be pleasant. Objectively speaking.

Sheik watched him settle. The other clearly wanted to be left alone, he respected that. But that made it awkward for him to just sit there. Not that he minded sitting in silence. It was simply that he was finding he was starting to enjoy talking to Vasheel, and they hadn't in a while. He curled his legs in towards himself, waiting.

Impa returned to find the two neither had moved from those spots. _Well, it's not hostile. That's an improvement._ She cleared her throat to get their attention. "We will be continuing the same exercise, but switching roles. Vasheel, you will be actively searching. That way you can see how things differ from that perspective."

The blanket slid fully off his shoulders as Vasheel sat up from hearing his name. He leaned back when her words registered. "Good," he said, trying for a careless shrug that ended up a bit dismissive as well.

Sheik, already aware of what was expected of him, had gone near the center of the room and stood, waiting.

"And because you were concerned before, I thought this might help." She held out two strips of cloth, not bothering to hide her amusement when Vasheel raised his eyebrows at her before taking one. Sliding down against the wall, she dimmed the lantern. "You may begin when you are ready."

Vasheel was tempted to ask if she was worried about him attacking her instead, but left it. It wasn't as though that would actually happen, and he wasn't in the mood to purposefully antagonize her. Instead, he strode out to the room to a spot he thought he was out of range, turning completely around and tying the cloth around his eyes. It was clearly a scrap from something, as loose strings hung off the edge, causing him to twitch his nose for a while to ease the irritating sensation.

Exhaling deeply, he crept forward, keeping his footsteps a normal length but slowing down. This might have counted as cheating, but he had counted his steps out of the room. As long as he kept in a straight line, he only had to remember a single turn to be sure that he at least reached the room before he started properly searching.

…Was he going straight? Vasheel extended one arm and leaned slightly that way until he touched a wall. Moving so his fingertips were just out of reach of it, he continued. Hopefully now he would be able to touch it again to prevent himself from smacking into it face-first. If he could avoid doing anything overly embarrassing, at least things wouldn't be a complete disaster.

 _Twenty-one, twenty-two_. Pausing, he tilted his head, wishing he had bothered to tuck his hair behind his ears before he started. No use making more noise now. Sheik was somewhere in the room in front of him, listening and waiting for Vasheel to give himself away. Granted, the Sheikah wasn't supposed to move except maybe to strike if he felt Vasheel was next to him, but it didn't hurt to be safe.

Holding his breath for a moment to eliminate his own noise, Vasheel tried to listen. Nothing. He stifled the urge to growl. It wasn't as if Sheik was even moving; how in Din's name was _he_ supposed to be able to hear someone out just by their breathing?

 _Well, I have to do something_. Steadily, he raised one foot at a time, shifting his weight gently as he went. As much as his instincts said to slide his feet, he forced himself to pick them up. Stone didn't creak under you like floorboards, but there was always some noise from constant friction on any surface. At this point, the plan was to navigate the room without being noticed, since that would be an accomplishment unto itself. Eventually, he would _have_ to encounter Sheik.

Another focused step, then a pause. His stress had increased his heart rate, so he stopped to regulate it again. He supposed Impa did have a point. Thinking too much about the one action had left the other to change unchecked. Starting again only curbed his frustration slightly, as nothing seemed to change regarding what he sensed. Vasheel altered his path into what he thought was the middle of the room, moving ever so slightly faster. Ha had just hesitated at what he thought was a noise in front of him when a light tap pushed his arm from the side.

"Got you," Sheik murmured.

Rays of light began to poke into his vision through the cloth. He pulled the blindfold off, giving the other a hard stare. Of course Sheik could find him with no problem. And then the boy had the nerve to smile at him. So damn friendly, as if it didn't mean anything.

"Again." Impa stretched but otherwise made no move to direct him.

The next few attempts were no better. Vasheel still couldn't tell what it was he was supposed to be noticing, and in the meantime being consistently found was really grating on him. His sixth try wasn't seeming any more promising until just before he entered the room. A hand stiffened where he had it out, and he scrunched his face in concentration as he attempted to figure what, exactly, he was feeling. Stepping to that side brought his hand into contact with the wall. Vasheel moved back and forth a few times. He grinned. Right before he actually touched it, there was a barely perceptible sensation. Almost like…

 _Like the feeling you get when you know someone's near you even if they haven't given any other signals._ That was it. He'd been so busy worrying about sounds that he hadn't bothered consciously processing tactile input.

Once inside the room, Vasheel held out his arms as he started. At first, it didn't change anything besides making him feel foolish, but eventually he got a sense of things. He managed to stop himself just before a wall, and then shifted to his left. There wasn't any definite input from there, but he could tell. A few steps and he was certain. Vasheel reached out to grab where he thought Sheik was, fingers closing around air. In moving, he inhaled sharply, and a force struck him in the face from the other side.

In the midst of the chaos of the next few moments, Vasheel was aware that at some point he'd taken off the blindfold and a light was on, but everything else was a blur of shouting and mild pain.

A tug on his hand made him finally notice the other two. Impa was watching him, concerned. "Here, let me look at it."

He only pressed on the spot harder. "No." A sigh at her insistence. "If you want to help, go get my things. It's nothing serious; I can make something for it." After she left, Vasheel realized Sheik was watching him intently. "What?" he demanded.

Sheik twisted his hands together. "I am so, so sorry. Are you alright? Can I just-" When Vasheel stopped putting pressure on his face to assess the injury, Sheik reached over and rested a palm against the red mark.

"What are you doing?" Vasheel pushed him off.

"I'm sorry, I just figured… my hands are cold, so I thought it might…" He held them up, shrugging.

A silent moment passed. Then, Vasheel rolled his eyes and tugged Sheik's hands over, using his own to press the cool skin against his face. "Stay still," he ordered, looking away. The temperature _was_ nice against the hot pain, but having someone else touch him made his skin crawl. It was just a weird physical sensation in general, and he didn't trust people to be so close to him either.

As time passed, he did find himself almost admitting that it wasn't as bad. Sheik's hands were a little bigger than his, but while he could feel callouses on them, they weren't quite so rough as his own. He was so caught up in the sensation that he didn't pull away quite as fast as he thought when Impa returned.

She placed the bag at his feet and watched as he sorted through it. "You really have what you need in there? How much do you even carry around?"

"A lot of common remedies have the same base ingredients, or at least ones that substitute easily. If you understand how they work, it's simple to make anything even with a limited supply." He produced a bundle wrapped in paper. Carefully peeling the paper away revealed a number of plain-looking leaves. "Dewspade's primarily used in treating insect bites, but since it helps lessen swelling, it'll be useful here as well." Vasheel tore a few up and rolled the strips in his hands before pressing it to his face. He noticed Sheik still watching him. "Yes?"

He looked down. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright."

A shrug. "It's not _that_ much of a problem. More of an inconvenience. Besides, I needed to use this soon anyway; it's no good once it dries out. My biggest problem is going to be dealing with looking like this."

"Really." His eyes betrayed a flicker of amusement. "From here it's an improvement."

Vasheel opened his mouth. "Augh, you-" He paused in shaking one hand at the other when he noticed the smirk half-hidden under the cowl. _Is he…?_ Narrowing his eyes, he lowered his arm. "You're messing with me."

Sheik put a hand over his chest. "Me? I would _never_." The effort of sustaining the grave expression made him giggle, and he broke into laughing.

"You are impossible." Even as he shook his head, there was a tiny smile on his face.

They both sighed, and Impa was the one to break the quiet that followed. "I think that's enough for tonight, then."

XXXXXXXX

The next session about a week later started with them reviewing. Vasheel had gone back to standing and trying to detect Impa. She still caught him, but it was taking longer. Once, he even came close to touching her before she got to him, and she stopped after that. "Have you been practicing?"

He stared blankly. "Don't patronize me."

"I meant that," she said, crossing her arms. "I understand why you're frustrated, but you need to remember that you've only been at this for about a month, while we've both been training for years." A genuine smile. "You're doing well already. You just need to be patient."

"Hmph." It was hard to be caustic when presented with that attitude. After all, Impa had never bothered to hide the fact that she didn't care for him much before. But this wasn't an act either. So instead he was having to deal with the weirdness of not being able to snap at people all the time, which he had gotten used to. Besides, the fact that _she_ was still willing to work with him said a lot as well.

During a later break, Sheik appeared. He leaned over where Vasheel was stretching. "Hey, Impa wants us to go up."

"What, outside?"

He nodded before silently leaving.

It was a relatively cloudy night, so Vasheel had to wait longer for his vision to adjust. He found the two Sheikah up in a nearby tree. Dreading what this might mean for him, he climbed up to meet them.

Impa shifted in her spot to give him room, then began. "We're going to practice in a more realistic environment. Now, concentrate on what's around you." She chuckled when Vasheel automatically closed his eyes. "Keep them open this time. That's what you'd do on an actual mission."

He frowned. "Then why-?"

"Because it can be deadly to rely on a single strategy or resource. Same with senses." She tapped her forehead. "Most people process things using sight first and hardly bother with the others. It's easier to train it out of you to start than trying to fix it later." A heavy sigh. "You wouldn't believe how much trouble I had working with the castle guards because of that. Besides, it's not as though your enemies won't be using their sight, so no use giving them an advantage." Impa studied him for a moment. "But we'll deal with visibility issues later."

Vasheel pulled his hair back defensively. "It's not any lighter than yours."

"Yes, well," she gestured between her cropped style and his, which fell below his shoulders. "Like I said, later."

Huffing, he adjusted himself into a better position to observe things. Of course, now that he was used to not seeing, being able to visually observe was overwhelming. It was so much more to take in.

As he followed the path of a falling leaf, Vasheel's gaze shifted towards Sheik for a moment. He jerked away from the leaf, studying the other's face. It was currently expressionless, and if he didn't know better, Vasheel would have thought the dazed air meant Sheik was daydreaming. The Sheikah _did_ appear to be looking his way, though. He squinted, trying to figure out if it was actually at him, and jumped when Sheik's eyes moved. Okay, _now_ he was definitely looking at him.

Sheik shrugged off the curious gaze and moved on to observe something else. The feeling of being watched forced him to look back, and he paused when he found Vasheel still staring. He responded with an intent glare, which was matched.

It quickly devolved into a staring contest. Sheik knew that he shouldn't have bothered responding to the other's unspoken challenge, if that was even the intent, but it felt good to throw Vasheel's attitude back in his face. See how he liked it. Besides, he was _winning_. The other was just about to blink when Impa took them both by the shoulder and shook them, breaking their concentration.

"Really now," she tutted. Her grip softened, but was still there. "This is hardly a good start for cooperation, and you both know it's important. Especially you, Sheik." She furrowed her eyebrows in contemplation, staring above them. Then, she nodded to herself. "Well, I suppose we're just going to have to work on that."

Sheik and Vasheel found themselves being moved to a larger branch nearby, where Impa directed their positioning. Sheik ended up sitting cross-legged on it, his right shoulder and back against the trunk. The way he was, he had to keep his weight leaned against the tree trunk or risk falling. Vasheel had one leg on either side of the branch, facing Sheik. Impa pushed him forward until he had to put a hand on the trunk by Sheik's head to stay balanced.

"There," she said. "Neither of you can move without unsettling the other, so you have to stay still unless you both want to fall. I want you to do the same thing as before, except now you're responsible for watching the other's back instead of yourself."

Sheik's whole body was tense. "Impa, this is hardly realistic."

"No," she admitted, "but it will force you to work together. I'll be watching, so don't try anything unless you want to be knocked out of the tree. It's a long way down."

"But-" they both protested.

Impa grinned before dropping out of sight. "And no talking either."

Vasheel glowered in silence until he thought she was gone. "Is she serious?"

"Yes." Sheik was almost pouting, except his arms were rigidly held in front of him as if he didn't know where to put them.

His expression only darkened. Vasheel concentrated on the rough bark under his one hand, the way it scraped against his skin, leaving crumbled pieces between his fingers. Maybe it was haeden. Or vindewood. He let his mind go over it, trying to ground his emotions instead of letting his anger grow.

Meanwhile, Sheik was calming himself for other reasons. His instincts didn't like having someone else this close. He could hear each of Vasheel's slightly uneven breaths, and any twitch of the other's arm by his head jolted his nerves. Forcing his eyes closed, he did the opposite of what Impa had said. Shutting everything out was the only way he knew how to rebalance himself, and he had to do that now.

An indeterminable time later, he breathed in deeply. And paused. He inhaled again, trying to figure out what he was sensing now that he was paying attention to his surroundings. The wind had shifted, and there was a familiar but unplaceable scent in the air. His memory eventually retrieved an association of it with a fire, warmth, and something else, but…

Sheik scrunched his eyes closed. Then it came to him. The drink Vasheel had made that night by the lake, and the flowers in it – the scent had even lingered on his hand from where he had picked one up.

 _Oh right._ He looked up at Vasheel, who was spacing out from the look of it, his gaze fixed on a spot on the tree behind him. Well, as long as Vasheel was going to stay still, he was hardly going to interfere. Sheik decided _he_ might as well practice, and settled himself into his usual rhythm for this exercise.

In doing so, Sheik unconsciously shifted, pulling Vasheel out of his thoughts. He glanced at the Sheikah, and upon seeing that his eyes were closed, away before they could get into another staring contest. The irritation had lowered to its usual background noise, and he hadn't even developed a headache worse than the usual mild band of pain across his forehead. That left him free to start noticing things again. Nothing particularly interesting could be seen, especially from his angle, so Vasheel switched to more sound and touch. It was only then that he realized his breathing was in time with Sheik's.

His mind froze, Of course, it hadn't been intentional; he had a habit of matching any rhythms around, and that had happened to be there. It wasn't that weird.

….Okay, it was a little weird. But now that he was aware of it, there was no way he would be able to stop. Hopefully Sheik wouldn't notice. He risked another look and couldn't help but see the slight movements of the other's body as he inhaled and exhaled. That caused him to quickly shift to his face. It was set in concentration, but clearly wasn't paying any attention to him. Possibly he had filtered Vasheel out.

Now sure he wasn't being watched back, Vasheel lingered on Sheik's face. Since the scarf usually hid part of it, it was rare he got to see all of it at once. There was the usual light behind his eyes, always too strong for Vasheel's liking, too warm and optimistically determined. He confirmed that the usual curve of Sheik's mouth was indeed a natural shape, bent downwards a tiny bit more than the average person's. Most fascinating was the contrast between the angular shape of the jaw and the softness of his nose. Vasheel had never noticed that before, and he found himself tracing it mentally over and again. Only when his mind realized what he was doing did he force his gaze away, suddenly a little shaky. He needed to think about something else.

Vasheel decided he might as well do what Impa had asked, observing the area but pointedly staying away from Sheik. What seemed like hours later, she came and helped them down. Even then, he found himself unable to say more than a few words before the thought of accidentally meeting the other boy's eyes spooked him and he left.

XXXXXXXX

The figure of the volcano stood out even more when the only light was the background of stars behind it. Sheik rolled his shoulders and stretched out his arms as he watched the clouds swirling around its peak.

Beside him, Vasheel fidgeted with the strap of his bag. "We're going to Death Mountain?"

"Well, sage of fire. It only makes sense."

He tilted his head to get a full view of it. Not that he needed to. Living in Kakariko meant you were always in its shadow, at least metaphorically, and it wasn't something that could be missed. Still, he had never been this close. Vasheel wasn't sure how much he felt like getting closer. "Remind me why I'm doing this again."

"It was either this or stay and train with Impa more." Pulling his cowl up, Sheik stepped onto the trail leading up to the mountain. His pace was a little slower than normal. As much as he wanted to get there soon, neither had any familiarity with the area, so they were going to have to do a lot of searching.

Vasheel followed silently, taking in the area. It was weird to be in a place so devoid of life. Sure, he could heat the occasional skittering of tektites, or possibly skulltulas, along with the shifting of stones beneath their feet, but what got him more was the fact that he had only seen a few small weeds poking out between the rocks and no other plants. It seemed to send a message of 'you don't belong here.'

They paused at a fork in the path. One route bent around almost completely before heading up, while the other ended at a large hole in the cliff face. Vasheel tilted his head. "Is it in there?"

Biting his lip, Sheik stared it down as if it would give him answers. It didn't feel like it, but on the other hand it wasn't as though he could really sense the temples unless they were almost at them. "Hold on," he said, creeping inside. Finally it gave way to a large cavern, lit by a few torches along the wall. The temperature was even higher here, and he thought he could see molten rock further away. While the place had the look of a dungeon, it wasn't the fire temple. "No," he commented, before realizing Vasheel hadn't followed him.

He repeated the declaration once outside, taking the other road further up the mountain. It was an hour of walking before Sheik decided that should rest for a bit. They had passed another juncture a while ago, but the Sheikah had rejected it, as a sign declared it to be the way to the goron city. If the temple was there, there wasn't anything they could do about it right now, and he doubted that it was.

Dropping his bag, Vasheel stretched his arms over his head. "This is more physical endurance that stealth."

Sheik looked towards him from his perch on a boulder. "I suppose. But that's important as well. It's just less of a priority since it goes with combat training, and for us, we've already lost if we're seen." He rested his head in his hands, trying to relax. The next thing he was aware of was the other exclaiming at something.

"I didn't know these grew so far from the volcano!" He flattened some rather dry grass to reveal a weedy plant with dark splotches on its leaves and a few tiny red flowers. "Ember tamony. Not much medicinal use, but they're supposed to be spicy. I always doubted that; growing closer to a constant source of heat does not affect the flavor of a food."

Watching Vasheel tentatively pull a bud off, Sheik shook his head. The difference between how he got around plants and his usual mood was so odd, since it was hard to imagine him being genuinely interested in something. Sheik let him go for a while, then announced they should get going. "After all," he pointed at the steeper incline ahead, "we've still got some ways to go."

For a while, Vasheel continued to run a commentary on the plant, how it had a little kick to it but hardly what one would call spicy, he knew it was an exaggeration, but eventually the exertion got to him and he fell quiet for a while.

He was the one to break the silence a little later when they reached a cliff face that was practically vertical. "Is it really necessary for them to have put the damn place at the very top?"

Sheik hesitated. "Actually, I've started to get the sense that it's inside the mountain."

" _Inside_ ," he repeated. "Lovely. How in Din's name is the sage supposed to survive the place themself? A thoughtful pause. "Do you even know who the sages are?"

"Not exactly." He fiddled with his scarf to but some time, unsure of how much he should say. "I know that the sage comes from a group associated with that element. Historically, it's been someone who was already prominent in their community. I suspect one of the gorons."

Vasheel huffed. "Well, that's fortunate for them. How are we going to get there?" He followed the other's gaze away from the cliff and towards a narrow path that wound its way up to the peak. A small whine escaped his throat. "That looks incredibly dangerous."

"It's either that or climb the wall." Sheik shrugged.

Glaring at the cliff face, he sharply turned and stomped towards the path. "Let's get this bullshit over with."

That route slowed them down even more, as they had to pick their way carefully to avoid either stepping off the path or shifting the rocks too much and causing a slide. As it was, most of their movements sent tiny cascades of pebbles down the side of the mountain.

Sheik had gotten so caught up in the ground below him that he only looked up when he heard a low growl. A glance ahead revealed it wasn't Vasheel. Even though his shoulders were tensed, the sound hadn't had the same quality as his voice. Actually, it almost didn't sound human. He checked up and down the path, but there wasn't anything there. When he leaned over to look below them, it came again from behind him.

There was a ledge above them, and from this angle he could see the opening of a small cave. A large creature emerged. Sheik had just enough time to grab Vasheel's arm and pull him forward before it let out a roar and charged at them. He kept going, hoping they could outrun the thing. His foot hit a loose spot, breaking a chunk of rock off and sending them both sliding down the mountain in a shower of pebbles.

Vasheel was the first to get up, panic growing when he checked behind them. "It's still coming this way. What is a fucking lynel doing here?"

"Are you sure it's a lynel?" Sheik asked as he scanned the area. He didn't know much about the less common monsters, and he wouldn't have expected the other to. Not that it mattered what the thing was. They had tumbled into a small crevice, and it looked like the only way out was back the way they'd come.

The monster paused, reared its head back, and shot a fireball.

"Yes!" Vasheel shouted, pulling Sheik towards him to get them out of the way. There wasn't much room for them to dodge if it was going to keep doing that, and they couldn't just stay there. While it physically wouldn't be able to get into the crevice, all it had to do was keep sending fireballs at them and the end result would be the same. "What do you suggest we do?" he hissed, still holding onto the Sheikah.

Estimating the lynel's distance, he made a few quick calculations. Sheik climbed up the wall as far as he dared without worrying about falling down and made a gesture in the air. But instead of the usual rush of power, he was just waving his hands around.

"…Please tell me you have a plan."

He made a frustrated noise. "I'm _trying_ to get my magic to stun it."

"Magic," Vasheel mouthed. "Well, it's not working. We have to try something else."

"No, I can do this." Sheik repeated the movement, with no better results.

The other shouted, the beginnings of panic in his voice. "Come on Sheik, we need another idea. It's getting close."

"Trust me!" It was their best bet. He must have just done something wrong. Concentrating his efforts, he stepped forward to put all the energy he could into a spell, this one hopefully to destroy it. The lynel moved to send another fireball at them, and he realized that he wouldn't have enough time to defeat it before they would be hit. Sheik hurriedly shifted the magic to a shield spell and jumped back at Vasheel, who had been backing up from him as much as possible in the confined space and was now pressed against the far wall.

Vasheel's eyes widened and he shouted, struggling against the Sheikah's grasp.

Sheik could sense the fireball, the growing heat and slight hiss in the air. He made another grab at Vasheel, only to be shoved back with a "no!" There was just enough time for him to attempt to throw the spell up before there was an explosion of heat and magic, and Sheik blacked out.

* * *

Aquila: heck yeah, training. I had so much fun writing this, you have no idea. Next time: hopefully some explanations for what's going on.

 **guesty:** I could see how that might be confusing now that I look at it again, yeah. I may try to fix that. I think it's again with the whole 'I know what's going on' blind spot. It's debatable how much any of them enjoyed this chapter, but I certainly did. There might be a bit more training stuff later, but we'll see.

Ah yes, canon. Well, without giving much away, I'm not planning on diverging _too_ extremely from canon. That being said, it's not going to be an exact fit either. If nothing else, I really want to try to deal with the lack of urgency the game presents. I mean, it's like 'oh yeah the gorons are locked up and going to be eaten by a dragon and the zoras are all frozen but you can totally go fishing for ten hours and not feel bad.' Which isn't as much of a problem there because you don't want to force the player to progress if they want to sidequest, but that's not going to work as well in a story. So, uh, basically we'll have to wait and see.


	9. Chapter 9

A low throb of pain emanated through Sheik as he slowly regained consciousness. Every part of him was at some level of aching, and he could tell without even checking that his magic stores were so exhausted that they felt scoured clean. Still too out of it to remember exactly what had happened before, he could only determine that whatever had happened, he had drawn far too much power from himself.

Sheik tried to move his protesting limbs. Heat flared in several areas across his arms and shoulders, and the skin pulled there. Laying down to let the pain settle gave him time to think back to the incident; they were probably burns. The right arm was stiffer, though, and hurt more for some reason. Well, he wasn't going to find out why by staying there with his eyes closed.

Where was he? All he could tell was that he was on a flat, even surface, and when he flexed his hand, there was a slightly rough fabric below him. Probably a bed. While there was a possibility Impa had decided to go after them was there, it was highly unlikely. Which meant…

He tensed. As much as it still hurt, he needed to move. He was alive now, yes, but that only meant the worse for him later. Sheik opened his eyes to a dark room, only the slightest bit of light poking out from a crack in the shutter of a window on a far wall. As he struggled to sit up, he could make out a sloping ceiling and shelves on every wall, covered with books and strange objects he couldn't identify. With a grunt, he finally forced himself into a seated position. The movement felt odd to his body. Sheik noted then that he was only wearing the base layer of his Sheikah uniform; someone had removed the thicker cloth paddings, his wraps, everything. Even the sleeves of his shirt had been cut away to bandage his arms.

But it was the lack of the reassuring weight on his shoulders that sent him into a panic. Without his scarf, Sheik's entire face was exposed, and while he knew it didn't really matter considering everything else, he couldn't help the way his breath shuddered at the feeling of air on the back of his neck, even with his hair hanging down. He needed to leave now more than ever.

The bed creaked as he shifted on it, and a figure that he hadn't noticed before shifted in the darkness. Without thinking, Sheik jumped at them, aiming for the torso to stun them. He managed to get in a hit to the stomach and twisted around them to hook his left arm across their throat. His consciousness was fading fast. He hung onto the pain as he fought to keep it. If he could just render them unconscious, there had to be something sharp enough around here. That would probably be all he could manage, but he wasn't going down without taking someone with him.

Sheik pressed tighter as his vision swam, but the second his muscles relaxed when he became light-headed, the other person pulled him to the ground. _No!_ Even though his body refused to respond, Sheik continued to struggle. This wasn't happening, it couldn't be, he _had_ to get out of there and-

"Sheik!"

Hearing the shout of his name momentarily snapped him out of panic. Having regained movement, he extended a shaking arm up to grab onto them again, freezing when he realized that the length of hair wrapped around his hand was contrasted so much with everything else it was almost glowing.

"Vasheel?" he whispered, looking up. The faint outlines of the other's face were the same, angular and sharp, but softened by concern. Although that was probably just his addled mind misinterpreting things. "Vasheel," he breathed, realizing that he'd been crying before only because he was starting again now.

"Shh!" Vasheel made to restrain him, stopping after hearing a squeak of pain. He crouched to the floor, pressing his ear against the boards. "Alright, we're clear," he announced after listening intently for a minute.

Sheik didn't say anything as he was helped back onto the bed, then pushed and told to "stay down this time." There wasn't nearly enough energy left in his body, and it was hard to tell if the tremors were from exhaustion, dizziness, or relief. The sound of rummaging ended with a light flickering into existence. Its shadows made the room more eerie as he studied it from his new perspective. "Where are we?"

Setting the lantern down on a nearby table, Vasheel sat on the edge of the bed, careful to avoid sitting on the other. "Above the potion shop in Kakariko."

"Potion shop…" he mouthed. That stirred some memories from a while ago. "So, this is your room?"

"It's a storeroom and secondary workshop," he said coolly, "that happens to be where I live because it's out of the way."

The dismissive comment did little to dim Sheik's new interest in his surroundings. The strange bottles and other objects made more sense in that context, and there were enough books that it otherwise could have been a small library. "I didn't know there were that many potion books. No wonder you know so much."

"Potions, plants, and general healing. Doesn't substitute for experience working with the stuff; it's that I have plenty of that. And they're not _all_ on those subjects." Vasheel realized he had prompted more questions, and quickly provided a distraction in the form of easing Sheik back onto the bed where he had begun to raise his head. "Stop trying to sit up. You're not going to recover if you keep moving."

"Oh." Honestly, he hadn't even noticed what he'd been doing. But he contented himself with lying there, feeling as his body adjusted back to normal as best it could, considering how drained he still was. He should have just gone to sleep, but there was still too much on his mind. Sheik considered his right arm, lifting it ever so lightly so Vasheel would notice. It was bound tightly from his hand to a bit past his wrist. "Is it…?"

"Broken?" With surprising gentleness, Vasheel brushed the wrappings. "I don't think so. Just sprained, and fortunately the worst injury you'll have long-term."

Considering what had happened, that wasn't a bad outcome, although the ache setting in his magical senses was making a decent argument for that description. Which reminded him. "What happened out there, exactly?"

He frowned, then sighed, taking on a more melancholy expression. "I don't know what you were attempting with your magic, but it exploded. The shock kept most of the fire from hitting us and even killed the monster in the backlash, but you fainted as well, probably from exertion." A quick glance Sheik's way before going back to looking at his hands in his lap. "It's fortunate neither of us was injured badly, or I might not have been able to get you here. I had a hard enough time concentrating through the migraine I ended up with as it was."

Sheik studied him as best he could from the angle they were at. The reserved posture was completely unlike him, and he hadn't even snapped once yet. Vasheel was clearly dancing around some issue, but it was impossible to tell what. It was in studying him for any giveaways that Sheik noticed the bandages on his hands, which appeared to go up his arms. There were a few minor marks on his face, but no other obvious injuries, although they could have easily been hidden under his clothing. "You carried me all the way back here? How did you manage to get me up onto the roof?"

He huffed. "So you have watched me in the village. The slide took us most of the way down the mountainside. And, actually, I snuck you through the back door." A laugh. "First time I'd been that way in years. Fortunately the old woman's a heavy sleeper."

Leaning up ever so slightly, Sheik noticed his bitter expression at the mention of another person. "She runs the shop?" He couldn't help but wonder how he could be so upset about someone who was protecting him, but then again that was exactly Vasheel.

"Not the main one. She does specialty and difficult orders and has someone else run the main store. _They_ don't even know about me; people think she makes everything herself." Vasheel said it with a mix of condescension and pride.

Sheik guessed it was because he was actually behind the work, but resisted saying anything that might aggravate the issue. Instead, he attempted to get Vasheel to see the more positive side of it. "How much do you really mind, though?"

The remark made him bristle indignantly. "It wouldn't be such a problem if she challenged me." Vasheel gesticulated, speaking more to himself. "Most of the time it's just base potions in large quantities or time-intensive preparation work. If I want to do _anything_ interesting, it's on top of everything else, and she takes credit for it when it gets used anyway." Ending the rant with a groan, he crossed his arms, slouching.

 _Okay, so more of an irritant than I thought. No wonder he's such a show-off about it to me_. He made a mental note not to mention it. The urge to pry further was still there – Vasheel had told Sheik more about his life in the past few minutes than the entirety of the time they'd known each other. But that was part of the problem. Sheik couldn't forget his feeling that the other was hiding something. "Well, I certainly appreciate you helping me." He smiled at him, then moved to redirect the conversation again. "It just stinks that it happened in the first place." Recalling the incident, Sheik grew frustrated. His magic had refused to work _again_ and there wasn't any explanation. "I don't know what went wrong. The spells were pretty simple, and I know I didn't make any mistakes."

There was a long, slow inhale. "About that." Vasheel stared off aimlessly, rubbing the same spot on his arm over and over. The words came slowly, haltingly. "There wasn't anything wrong with your magic." He tensed his shoulders, biting his lip. "It was me."

"Vasheel," Sheik almost laughed, "I know you can't do magic, but that doesn't make the fact that I messed up your fault." Was this what he'd been hiding? Nayru, he knew Vasheel was vain, but this was ridiculous even for him. There was no way he would have affected things, and it wasn't like him to say that just because he felt bad about what happened.

"But it is." He stared determinedly at the air in front of him, his voice grave.

Rolling on his side, the Sheikah reached out to touch him. This was just getting _weird_. "I don't know where this is coming from, but don't beat yourself up about it." He couldn't believe he was telling Vasheel of all people to be less critical of himself.

"You don't understand!" He burst out, waving his arms. "It's not just that I can't do magic. I-" Vasheel held his breath in for a moment before saying, quickly and in a half-panicked voice, "Magic doesn't work around me."

Sheik could only stare at him. "What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said." The bed creaked as he stood. He was still refusing to look at Sheik, but glanced in the general direction as he explained. "Anyone tries to do magic too close to me, nothing happens. Spells stop working once they hit that distance too, no matter what was cast. Like there's a barrier." Despite his evident frustration, the words came with no hesitation. Either he had rehearsed it, or he was used to talking about it. He was frowning heavily now. "And it isn't just that. You know how there are some objects that require magical power to use, and then others with magical properties that anyone can use? Neither does anything for me; I've tried. It's like something about me rejects any trace of magic from getting near."

There was a long silence as Sheik tried to absorb what he had heard. Vasheel was breathing heavily, trying to contain his expression. He finally stared Sheik directly in the eyes. "So yes, it _was_ my fault. You couldn't do anything because I was too close, and you didn't know about it."

Still frozen, Sheik's mind only managed to process that this must be what he had been so caught up about before. But a person being able to repel magic, not even consciously, and from what he understood it was constant. It was unheard of. Hundreds of questions came to mind, but all he could manage to get out of his suddenly dry mouth was an "are you sure?"

"Of course I am!" He paused, sighed, and continued in a calmer tone. "I'd show you if you weren't incapacitated, but it's not as though I'm unfamiliar with it."

The Sheikah made a mental note to take him up on the offer later. Giving a sympathetic look, he propped his head up with one hand. "Have you always had this?"

That seemed to calm him down. Vasheel nodded. "Since birth, as far as I'm aware."

"Not any kind of curse, though?"

Scoffing, he dropped down onto the bed. "No. That's not possible. Then again," he leaned back on his arms behind him, stretching across the short side of the bed and over the other, "from what I can tell, there's never been anyone like this before either."

"I didn't even know it was possible." Sheik sighed. "I'm not sure how much it would help, but I can ask Impa if she knows anything if you're alright with that." He wanted to do something. The look on the other's face seemed so resigned.

"Mmm, perhaps. It's not really a problem, honestly, as long as you know how to handle it." Vasheel laid all the way down, his weight pressing down lightly on Sheik's legs. "The real problem is ensuring other people don't find out: I'm not about to let someone else treat me like a tool or an object of study."

Interesting. So maybe it wasn't resigned as much as it was accepting. "Well, it means even more to me that you did tell me, then." Sheik put as much effort into sounding genuine as possible, because he really did mean it. It was an oddly comforting feeling, knowing that he was being trusted so much by someone who he knew was suspicious of others, especially with something so important.

He shrugged, still in the same spot on the bed. "I could hardly expect not to after what happened; I failed to manage it properly, and since you almost died, you deserve that much at least." A glance over, with an expression Sheik could have sworn was almost playful. "Besides, who of importance are _you_ going to tell?"

"Yeah, I know," he laughed. "But seriously, it does help. Imagine if we had gotten to the temple, but then I had an issue with it because…" Sheik trailed off as the implications of his words hit him, breaking the mood instantly. Because that _had_ happened before. "The water temple. I- You-" His expression went from confusion to realization to anger in quick succession. Suddenly everything about that night made sense. "You were practically standing next to me," Sheik said, disbelief lacing his words. "And you _knew_ I was using magic!"

Vasheel's expression froze. "I'd forgotten about that," he muttered to himself, looking away.

"You jerk, you messed with me on purpose!" The pitch of his voice rose as he batted away the other's attempt to get him to lie back down with a "get off me" that forced Vasheel off the bed. Sure, Sheik had tolerated Vasheel's general horribleness towards him, but that had been on a completely different level. "I was doubting our entire mission, whether I was capable of doing something that was needed to save the world, and you have the luxury of _forgetting about it_." Sheik's glare was intense enough to be one of Vasheel's.

For once, Vasheel looked unsure of what to do, the guilty expression back on his face. "I wasn't in a good mental place, and I just wanted to get out. I understand now that it wasn't right of me."

It didn't do anything to soften his look. The revelation had stung even more since it had come directly after him starting to think Vasheel truly wasn't a completely horrible person, and at this point, all he cared about was trying to hurt him back as much as possible. "I hope so," he spat, blinking back tears. Before Vasheel could say anything else, he flung himself back onto the bed, wounds unheeded, and yanked the blanket over his head, shutting the world out.

At some point, he must have fallen asleep, because when he finally emerged from under the covers, the window was cracked open, letting in just enough moonlight to see by. The soreness had gone down considerably, but he was still tired enough that sitting up was an effort. In shifting, he noticed a weight on the blanket by his feet. All of his gear had been stacked there in neat piles. Sheik reached for his scarf, tugging it out from under the other fabrics. This destabilized the stack, knocking everything to the floor with a sound just loud enough to be noticeable.

Vasheel's head raised in reaction to it. He had been curled under a blanket on the floor under the window, and watched Sheik as he tried to wrap the fabric around his shoulders with his left hand. "You need help?" he asked groggily.

Sheik glared at him.

"Alright then." Getting up, he began sorting through bottles on the desk, one hand absentmindedly combing through his hair. Eventually, he produced a tall cup that he poured something into, then brought over.

Now purposefully taking longer to adjust the scarf, Sheik refused to look Vasheel's way, his frown the only acknowledgment of the person standing right next to him.

He persisted for a while, but then gave up, slamming the cup on a shelf out of reach from the bed, spilling drops of bright green liquid. Some kind of magic potion. Vasheel leaned into the other so far that he was forced flat on the bed again. "Look, I get that you're upset. But you could at least stand not to be so childish as to ignore help when you're still recovering from injuries."

While his magic no longer felt hollow, Sheik's body was still focusing on restoring his physical energy to the point where he didn't have any magic back. But that didn't mean he had to accept the offer. "What, you think if you distract me long enough I'll stop being angry at you because you decided to act like a decent person for a few seconds?" He shoved Vasheel off, wincing at the way the impact jolted his injured wrist. "This isn't a problem that's going to go away because _you're_ childish enough to refuse to talk about it!"

Exhaling loudly, Vasheel kicked a fallen piece of cloth across the floor. "I already told you that I realized it was wrong to do. What more do you want?"

"I don't know, maybe _an actual apology_?" Sheik clenched his hand, shaking as he spoke.

His gaze turned back to the other, softer now. "I'm sorry."

"No. You aren't!" Sheik hadn't even noticed that he'd started shouting until Vasheel had launched himself across the room and covered his mouth with a hand. He pushed against it, but the grip stayed until Vasheel was sure he wasn't going to start shouting again.

"I don't care how you feel right now; understand that making so much noise puts us both in danger. And in your condition, it'd be even worse for you." Rolling his eyes at the way Sheik stuck his tongue out at him, Vasheel leaned in, staring him down. ""Now, do you have an actual reason for being upset?"

His expression darkened. "You really don't think about other people's feelings at all. I told you before, you made me doubt my mission."

"And that's that important to you?"

" _Yes_ ," he breathed, desperately. "That was the first time I was going to do something in the fight against Ganondorf. Back before he took over, I was powerless. This was my chance to show I _was_ capable. And when I couldn't?" Sheik dropped his head, clutching the fabric of his shirt. "I felt like I had failed Hyrule all over again."

Vasheel tried to find an appropriate response, but anything he might have done was cut off when Sheik dropped forward into him. Scrambling, he wrapped his arms around the Sheikah to keep him from falling. He meant to let go right away, but once Vasheel noticed the way he was shaking, it didn't feel right. Instead, he kept the loosest grip he dared and looked up at the ceiling as if Sheik was going to stop and yell at him for staring.

Eventually, a light pressure on his collarbone signaled to release him. Sheik took a few shuddery breaths, hands on either side to keep him steady. Then he remembered Vasheel was there. Opening and closing his mouth a few times, he looked away almost guiltily. He was pretty sure you weren't supposed to cry on someone you were angry at, and while Vasheel hadn't exactly been comforting, the fact that he didn't push him away made Sheik feel bad about going back to shouting at him.

Vasheel wasn't doing much better. Being snippy at someone who had bared their feelings to you moments ago was just cruel, no matter how ridiculous he might think Sheik was for caring about that kind of thing. But an apology also felt too hollow. "I suppose you were right," he murmured, getting off the bed.

Sheik looked up at him. "I didn't really mean-"

"Yes you did. And I probably deserved it." Picking up the potion, he offered it again. "Need anything else?"

He glanced between the cup and the solemn look on the other's face. It wasn't an apology, but it _was_ an understanding. Sheik took them both, pressing his fingertips down on Vasheel's hand for a second in the hope he would understand what it meant. "This is enough for now."

XXXXXXXX

They ended up giving Impa a toned-down version of the event on the mountain in an attempt to worry her less, although Vasheel was pretty sure she could tell they were lying. Sheik had also left out the explanation for why his spells had gone wrong. At the end, Vasheel gave her just enough time to process what they had said before telling her as if it had nothing to do with anything else. While he appreciated Sheik's decision to let him hide it, she would find out eventually, and he figured it might as well happen the way he wanted it to. She initially looked to Sheik to see if it was a joke, but then switched to questioning him about how it worked.

Sheik decided that then was the perfect opportunity to make good on Vasheel's earlier promise. He conjured a small flame in one hand. As the other two continued to talk, he inched closer, watching the fire dim and go completely out. "Huh." There was no response from his magic system at that spot. A step away, it came back, weaker than normal. Sheik tried the spell again. Only a flicker before it extinguished again. Two more strides had it working normally.

He moved forward again, this time focusing on his magical senses. They gradually became weaker until there was nothing there.

"Having fun?" Vasheel raised his eyebrows at him.

"It's not an abrupt cutoff," he explained. "There's no magic here, but when I go," he jumped backwards, "here, it's barely noticeable. You have to go," another step, "about this far to stop feeling the effects at all."

"Didn't know it went that far." With a swing of his hand, he indicated a spot just past the middle point Sheik had given. "Things usually started working twice my reach away, and I never bothered testing it. Might have to do with the strength of the magic."

"Certainly odd," Impa mused, watching as Sheik moved back and forth to demonstrate how his spell fluctuated. "It's possible to block spells from being cast, yes, but I've never heard of anything being able to stop magic from existing at all. Could be useful, but it's another thing we need to make sure no one finds out about." She sighed when Vasheel started following the other boy around, telling him to 'stop playing, your enthusiasm is giving me a headache.' Putting a hand on each of their backs, she stilled them. "Enough. We have other problems to consider."

"You mean the fact that a rare and powerful monster was roaming not far from Kakariko when otherwise there have barely been keese and bubbles around?" Vasheel crossed his arms. "I don't like it."

Impa turned to Sheik. "Are you certain of the temple's location?"

"Yes." He sunk into his shoulders. "But it doesn't make sense. How would the hero be expected to survive in that heat?"

"I've heard that the gorons used to make fabric that would allow humans to enter the volcano." She frowned. "Of course, we can hardly go to them for it. And getting ahold of the materials…"

"Dodongo hide and bomb flower fibers." Vasheel walked across the room, ignoring the confused look the other two exchanged. Reaching into his bag, he retrieved a book and opened it as he came back to them.

Impa tilted her head to study the cover. It was a deep red, rough around the binding but with little in the way of decoration other than a few random patterns. When he stopped next to her, she leaned over his shoulder. The pages were slightly yellowed with age, and she could see impressions made by someone taking notes on nearby pages. "This is mine."

Continuing to flip through it without looking up, he shrugged. "Yeah."

"Why do you have this?" She lifted one side to check the inside cover, still not believing what she was seeing.

"Well, the hunt for Sheikah also included any information or items they had that might be considered dangerous. That included your home in Kakariko, and I thought it would be a waste of information not to try to save some of the books there." He smacked an area on the page. "Says here the hide needs to be treated for at least a week before it's usable. Then it's placed between layers of cloth made from the fibers." His eyes narrowed as he continued to read. "I've never even heard of that mixture."

Impa was too preoccupied with his initial statement to absorb his reading about the goron fabric. "Are you saying that my library survived?"

"Huh?" Vasheel stopped mumbling at the book and looked up at her. "Well, some of it. There wasn't much time between finding out and them destroying everything, and I just grabbed whatever off the shelves. Can't even read half of them." He glowered, as if someone had arranged things purposefully to inconvenience him that way.

She wrapped a hand around each side of the book, keeping him from examining it further. "Sheikah script?"

A huff. "Unless you had books written in another language besides Hylian, then yes, that's what the writing is." One hand hovered over her grip, then dropped. "I assume you want them?"

"Yes." Realizing that it had come out as a command rather than a request, Impa closed her eyes and breathed. "Please," she added, letting go of the book.

Sheik's gaze went between them a few times before he took advantage of the silence to interrupt. "So no matter what, it's going to take a lot of effort to actually get to the temple?"

"And over a month of time, unless you want to risk contact with the gorons." Vasheel snapped the book closed. "I can provide some of the parts, but the core materials will be more difficult."

Impa nodded to herself. "We'll manage. And then it will be one step closer to winning back Hyrule."

* * *

Aquila: I don't really have much to say about this one except wow it feels good to finally get to a bit of the story that I've had floating around for _forever_. It's like, well, there's one thing I get excited about that I don't have to worry about spoiling anymore. Not to mention fun to see how it actually plays out now that it's solid what happened.


	10. Chapter 10

**Aquila:** Whoo, still alive. This one took a it longer because real life hit me hard and also executive functioning/mental health issues. But I have managed to fight them off enough to get this up(although this was kind of written over that span of time and I don't have the mental energy to do much editing, so if stuff is weird, that might be why. Also I am posting this update with my freaking phone by copy-pasting the story text paragraph by paragraph from an email because the Internet I'm using has this website blocked and im impatient so I hope it doesn't mess up too bad)

* * *

Vasheel slumped forward on his desk, fingers running through his hair as he grasped the back of his head. There was a slight crinkling sound as his breath stirred the pages of the book next to his head. A bright, high sound of glass on glass sent him bolt upright, rapidly scanning his surroundings for the source until a shout from downstairs extinguished the tension. He checked the window. No light came in from between the boards, but the fact that the old woman was still on the main floor meant that it wasn't sundown yet. The shop was still open.

Vasheel massaged the side of his neck as he stretched his shoulders out. One of the _wonderful_ things about being stuck in this room was the fact that it was completely impossible to keep track of time. Fortunately, it didn't matter for him as long as he kept quiet and discreet. Of course, it also meant that he forgot when he should be eating or sleeping. By a rough estimate, he'd been awake for a day and a half now.

He glared at the worn book. This one had been more weather-damaged by the time he'd gotten to it, and he'd been trying to copy it over to a more easily legible format, but the past section had a few particularly bad water stains that were really starting to grate on his patience. It was going to have to wait until later or he'd be throwing it against the wall. Vasheel slid it back into its place on the shelf. What sucked the most was the fact that _this_ was the only one he could find on regional variants of plants. He was familiar with the ones near Kakariko, but if there were differences in the appearance or properties of commonly-used plants within the borders of Hyrule, he needed to ensure that he understood them. Especially since he was travelling further and further away with the Sheikah.

Letting out a groan, he pressed his face against the side of the bookshelf. Sleep now, ruminate about that later. Vasheel sunk into his bed, tossing the blanket over himself before falling asleep.

A light shifting from above woke him what seemed like moments later. He tensed, waiting for something else to happen. It could have just been a guay, but he had been on that roof often enough himself to know it took substantial weight to make any noise. There was a person up there.

But what could he even do about it? If they wanted to get in, they were going to get in, and he didn't have anywhere to go. Vasheel tried to restrain his breathing as he looked around for a weapon. Something rattled the window and he snatched up a knife from the desk. It was meant for cutting ingredients, but his disgust at the idea of getting blood on one of his tools was overpowered by the panic aroused by the creaking of the shutter.

He had managed to slide directly under the window when the hinges popped and a figure dropped through the opening. Their roll to absorb the impact from falling landed them a few feet in front of Vasheel. As they examined the space, he moved to jump them.

Instantly, they grabbed his arms, twisting his wrist until he dropped the knife. A moment of grappling, then a panicked whisper. "Vasheel?" One hand tilted his face into the moonlight, also giving him a view of the intruder. Sheik stared him down for a few seconds before hugging him tightly. "Thank Nayru," he breathed.

Vasheel made a face as he tried to find a way to subtly pull the other off. "You were expecting someone else? Okay, let go, there's no need for that." When he finally separated them, Vasheel brushed himself off pointedly. "The hell are you doing here? You specifically agreed _not_ to do this."

Sheik had already gotten up and was re-approaching him, slower this time. "I know what I said, but this is an emergency." He eyed the window as if judging how quickly he could climb back up. "Get anything you want to keep and we're going."

"What? Why?"

Not bothering to wait, Sheik pulled him off the ground. His expression was hard, none of the usual warmth behind his eyes. "Ganondorf is back."

Everything went hazy as he attempted to process that simple statement. His head dipped to meet the Sheikah's gaze. "What, in Hyrule? I don't see how that means I have to-"

"He's still searching for the princess." Sheik pressed his nails against the wrappings on his palms. "So it's very likely he'll want to check on the villages again – you're not safe here. You don't have a choice." He softened a bit. "They _will_ find you here, and we're not letting that happen." Turning away, he crossed his arms. "Take whatever you don't want them to find or can't stand to leave. I don't know when, if ever, it'll be safe to come back." There was a hint of bitterness to the last words.

Vasheel surveyed the room, then went straight for his bag, dumping everything out on the bed. "Easily replaceable, need a few of the rarer ones." He continued mumbling to himself as he packed away a few bottles and bundles of plants, shifting to the other wall. "But what I really have to see…" It was fortunate he'd already given Impa back her Sheikah books, as well as lending her a handful of others he'd thought potentially useful for their missions. That still left him with more than enough books he didn't feel comfortable leaving, though. "Hey," he called to Sheik, "come get some of these." He had gathered a decent pile and tied it together, but stopped after turning to hand them over. "What?"

"Oh, sorry." He forced himself to stop staring. "You're just really pale. I mean, I knew that before, but I guess I've just never seen that much of your skin at once." Sheik flicked his hand up to indicate the other's bare arms. Only Vasheel would roll up his sleeves but leave his collar unfolded so it went up to his chin. More interesting, though, was the fact that Sheik could tell he had more scars than would be expected. The same white as his skin, they stood out because of the way their texture reflected the moonlight differently. Mostly cuts, but there seemed to be a few sizeable burns as well. Sheik's concentration broke as a stack of boo

ks was pressed into his hands.

A huff. "It ends up with plant or ink stains otherwise." Vasheel tugged the sleeves back down as he circled the room one more time. "I'm ready."

He looked from the full shoulder bag to the additional books in both of their arms. "You really need all of these?"

"Each one is information we have that they don't. I'll take every bit of power over them that I can. Besides, they'd probably be destroyed otherwise, and I don't like that either," he said, struggling to fix his hair with a half-free hand.

Sheik sighed. Tempted though he was to object, he also did not want to deal with the other's stubbornness. "As long as you can get out with them." Shifting his bundle to one hand, he used the shelves under the window to climb up and out onto the roof.

They were met by Impa outside the border of town. She escorted them along the trees and cliffs on the edge of the fields, ordering them not to talk until they reached their destination. Otherwise silent, she appeared even more on edge than Sheik had been, constantly looking over her shoulder and shadowing them.

This hiding space was just outside the Lost Woods, close enough that Sheik could faintly sense the place's magical aura from where they were. Impa ushered them inside, checking the seals on the entrance as the two went further on in. After the initial tunnel, which curved just enough to be out of sight of the door, it opened up into a single rather spacious cavern.

Vasheel sat against one of the walls, putting down his items in slow, measured motions. He needed rest now more than before, and he wasn't sure if he could count on being able to right away. Once everything was settled, he checked on Sheik. Impa had come down and was talking to the boy in a low voice, her hands on his shoulders. Vasheel wondered, not for the first time, if they weren't related after all.

She took notice of him and brought the conversation over. "This is the most secure location we have right now. It's far from any town, and even most monsters are hesitant to enter the Lost Woods." A stern glance to each of them in turn. "You are not to so much as touch the door, understood? I'm not risking either of you. I'll come back with supplies and information as much as I can." Running a hand over Sheik's hair, she smiled at him and turned to Vasheel with a curt nod before leaving.

As soon as Impa was gone, Vasheel had taken half the blankets from the pile of supplies left there and piled them into a lump, which he fell asleep on.

Sheik, on the other hand, had too much going through his mind to rest. They had only found out about Ganondorf's return when he appeared in Castle Town a day ago with an army. Looking back on it, they should have known it was coming. The number of monsters in Hyrule had been increasing recently in correspondence with the Gerudo's approach. Monsters required dark magic to survive. Very little of it existed naturally in the land, but someone with his power generated enough background magic to support huge numbers of them. Even here, it was palpable, just on the edge of Sheik's magical senses.

But Impa had warned him not to use them. They didn't yet know how far Ganondorf's awareness would reach, and even a spell that didn't use his light magic could carry enough of a signature to be dangerous. It was another reason why she'd decided to hide him and Vasheel together – to disguise his trace.

Sitting on the edge of the table of supplies, Sheik picked at the wrappings on his arm. Ganondorf. Despite all the time preparing for the inevitable fight, he hadn't given much thought to the man himself. It was now five years since he had seen him, a fleeing glance past Impa as they escaped the castle. Try as he might, Sheik couldn't bring himself to feel much of anything toward him right now. Odd, considering how the state of Hyrule - the direct result of that man's actions – was one of the only things that elicited true anger from him.

He kicked a table leg and shifted back to his feet, pacing. Those thoughts could wait. Right now he needed to make it through however long he'd be stuck down here.

XXXXXXXX

The two of them ended up being alone in the hideout for two days before Impa returned. It was a quick visit, long enough to drop off more supplies, inform them that Ganondorf's followers were still searching everywhere, and leave again. Sheik looked after her with a concerned expression while Vasheel went digging through the stuff.

With a grunt, he extracted a bag containing the partially-finished fabric. "Plenty of free time to complete it." A frown as he paused in the middle of untangling strips of hide. "Not that we'll get to use it any time soon." Vasheel glanced up for a second to see if Sheik was paying attention, then went back to piling the materials to the side. He had settled himself against a wall with everything spread out around him before the silence was broken.

"Sorry, did you say something?" Sheik looked away from the door to where the other had been, glancing around when he noticed the other had moved.

Sighing, he shook his head. Instead of acknowledging the question, he began picking things out of their respective containers to drop into a bowl in front of him, stopping every once in a while to lean down check some measurement in the book. "Of course it has to be written in the most unintuitive- ugh. Here, make yourself useful" Vasheel tossed a cloth bag across the room "and peel these open for me."

Opening the drawstring with one hand, Sheik examined the contents for a moment. After noticing that Vasheel wasn't commenting further, he sat as close to the other as he could without disturbing anything and held it out. "Are you sure you wanted these?"

"Yeah," he said, tossing a handful of seeds into the bowl with more force than necessary. "Figured they'd be easy because of the natural gap in the shell."

He checked the bag again. "But they're deku nuts. You know, throw them and you get a bright light and an explosion. They're meant for stunning things."

A flat look as he paused in his work. "That's one use, yes, but this plant happens to be one of the most versatile out there. The sort of sap on the inside, which is what produces the light, can be used as a type of lantern oil – not a particularly effective one, mind, but better than nothing." Vasheel reached over and pulled one out, running his hand over the parts in turn. "Now, the stringy plant fibers in the middle, the bit you can see in the gap, those, when properly extracted and brewed, can produce a paralytic poison of varying levels of strength, from mild difficulty moving for a short time to permanent paralysis everywhere. And if you grind down the hard exterior shell…"

Even though the concept was a bit interesting, Sheik found himself beginning to tune the words out. What kept him from completely ignoring Vasheel was the fact that his expressions of what seemed to be amusement were too amusing. The level of detail he was getting into made it hard to excuse the rambling as showing off – it wasn't as though it was about anything particularly impressive – and Sheik still found it odd that he would care that much about that kind of thing.

"Are you still listening?"

"Hmm?" Sheik's thoughts were interrupted, and he realized that he'd been absently staring at Vasheel for what had probably been a while. "Oh, yeah. Yeah. But why do we need them for _this_?"

While he narrowed his eyes, he didn't remark on the other's drifting off. "The insides can be made into a pulp that works as an adhesive, which we need to help put all these parts together." A tap against the side of the bag. "So get these open for me."

After Sheik had settled, Vasheel found himself glancing over, still worried despite the fact that his back was turned. The staring earlier had weirded him out a little, and now his mind couldn't stop trying to figure out what it had been about. The only stares he ever remembered getting before were because of his unusual appearance, which wasn't true here. Sheik's expression had been almost… _fond_ , and he wasn't sure how to think about the feelings that thought brought up. Come to think of it, the Sheikah had had a similar look while studying him the night he'd broken into the potion shop.

Ducking his head down towards the bowl, he shook his head ever so slightly. That didn't _mean_ anything, the boy was spacey as hell anyway. Besides, Vasheel wasn't finding himself able to put the thoughts that followed that train of logic into comprehensible words anyway. He looked up again to see Sheik in deep concentration, chewing on the inside of his mouth as he worked, and jolted his head back down. _Shit_. Forcing his hands to be as steady as he could, Vasheel threw himself as deep as he could into the work. Because he was _not_ going to think about thy way his chest had just tightened and momentarily caught his breath.

Of course, the increased speed meant that he got to the point where he needed the deku nuts faster. Squeezing the side of his leg with one hand, he growled under his breath. _Stop being so foolish_. "Let me see what you have." Although he did look up, his head was tilted so that while he was technically facing Sheik, his bangs obscured enough of his vision that he couldn't actually see the boy.

Which meant that he didn't notice Sheik's look of confusion. He furrowed his brows as he thought. Ok, so he hadn't done the best job of opening the deku nuts, but he didn't see how that justified the look of frustration Vasheel was giving him. He shook his head. It was probably just another one of his weird moods, which meant it wasn't personal. Sheik managed to shrug it off and sprawled out on the ground, aimlessly fidgeting now that his part was done.

Vasheel calmed a bit. Now that the other was out of immediate attention, he could easily compartmentalize and bury his stress. By the time he'd set up the mixture to set, the moment was almost completely out of his mind.

Once he moved away from the supplies, Sheik rolled over on his side to face him. "You done?" Pulling himself up, he smiled. "Good. Stand over here, will you?" He indicated a spot slightly in front of where he was positioning himself.

"Why?" Arms crossed, he stopped where he was, regarding the Sheikah with suspicion.

Sheik rocked back on his heels. "Training. Look, I helped you with your thing, so it's only fair. Besides, I haven't worked with someone else in _forever_."

"Yes, but that was something that benefits both of us."

"Then you can train too." He pulled one arm over his head, stretching.

Well, the calm had been nice while it lasted. Vasheel glowered, taking an exaggeratedly slow step back to make his point. "I'm not interested in getting thrown around right now, especially since I'm not learning anything from it."

"What do you mean?"

A heavy sigh, accompanied by a roll of the shoulders. "As helpful as being able to hide is, it's not exactly a viable long-term solution. If someone's searching the area thoroughly, I'm going to slip up eventually, and then I'm screwed."

Sheik lowered his arms. "You want to learn to fight?" If the apprehension in his voice had gone unnoticed, then his wide eyes certainly gave it away.

"No," he scoffed. "I'm well aware I would never stand a chance in a fight, but that can't be the only option if I end up in a direct confrontation."

"Ohh. So, like dodging stuff. Getting out. Escaping." That seemed to reassure him. Sucking his lip between his teeth, he stared at the ceiling. Then, he brightened. "Okay, I have something we can try. Stand across from me."

With only the briefest of hesitations, he did so.

Once he was in place, Sheik shifted so that his body was facing sideways and his weight was on the balls of his feet. "Now, this is more of a combat training thing, but I think it'll work here too. Copy me." He started shifting his balance back and forth between his legs. "See what I'm doing? What you wanna do is keep bouncing like this. Keep up on the front part – yeah, like that, but try to make it a little more fluid. The idea is that you're not leaning too much on one leg, so that when you need to move," without any signal that he was going to act beforehand, he sprung forward and twisted to the side so he was standing next to Vasheel, "you can just do it." A nod, and then he started circling. "I didn't say you should stop."

Vasheel rolled his eyes. "You sound like your guardian. And this isn't as easy as you make it look."

"She's the one who taught me." He gently brought the other's arms up in front of his body. "Again, this is more of a fighting thing, but try to keep your hands like this. It's easier to react when they're up, 'specially if you want to block stuff from your face." More circling. "Now keep going. You want to get a good sense of the rhythm here."

A slight cramp was starting to develop in his leg when Sheik called him off. "Ok, so here's what you're going to use it for. You know someone's coming at you but you're not sure exactly where they are or what they're going to do. If you're ready like this, it's easier to avoid them." He stood so they were across from each other again, starting to bounce on his feet. "Here, come try to grab me."

Wavering for a moment, Vasheel jumped directly at him, only to find his arms swinging through the air as the Sheikah hopped backwards. An attempt to back up and get him from the side was met with a sidestep and a kick that threw him off-balance. He sighed. "I thought this _wasn't_ supposed to involve knocking me over."

"Heh, sorry. You made it a little too easy." He offered a hand to stand up. "But you see what I mean? Now you try."

Although he grumbled about it, once he got back into position Vasheel found that moving away from things was easier than attacking. It wasn't particularly intuitive at first, but eventually the movements became more automatic.

Confidence rising, he aimed a light punch towards the other.

Sheik sidestepped it easily. Looking through the bangs that had fallen in front of his eyes, he laughed. "You've never been in a fight before, huh?" Another strike dodged.

The corner of his mouth twitched and he swung his arm in a horizontal arc at the Sheikah's torso. When he managed to dodge, Vasheel was thrown off-balance. The glimpse of the other's triumphant expression at that moment set something off in him. He swung his back leg forward to catch himself and shifted weight on the front half of his feet, turning as he did so. With that momentum, Vasheel threw himself forward and into Sheik.

Sheik, not expecting someone to collide with him, fell to the ground.

In the process, Vasheel overbalanced himself and landed on top of him. "Ow." He barely had enough time to process what had happened before the Sheikah pushed him off and to the side.

"Was that really necessary?" he retorted as he sat up, wrapping his arms around his torso.

"You're just upset that _you_ ended up falling this time."

Sheik gave him a flat look. "Didn't change much for you, though."

An oddly cheerful laugh. "Still progress." He shifted so he was lying on his side facing Sheik. "Not so fun being on the receiving end, huh? Gives you something to think about." Vasheel's expression was almost exaggeratedly smug.

"Well, I certainly would have preferred not to have someone clumsily land on me." It was Sheik's turn to laugh as he watched Vasheel start at his description. "But do you really think I _haven't_ had to deal with this kind of thing before? I've just learned enough to avoid that now."

He scowled. "Fucking Sheikah," he whispered under his breath.

Sheik put his hands to his hips. "That's not very nice." He paused, eyes flickering upward in thought. "At least I think so. Never heard anyone else use that word, so…" An offhand shrug. "And you can make anything sound insulting."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

 _Does he ever stop? What am I thinking, of_ course _not._ Tugging at the end of his cowl with both hands, he narrowed his eyes. "Please don't"

"Too late." The barest hint of a smirk appeared as he stretched out a bit more. He was _going_ to get the better of the conversation this time.

At that, Sheik swung his legs under him and leaned over to Vasheel. "Because what I meant by that is that you're terrible at sounding like you mean things any other way."

Vasheel pushed himself up ever so slightly to meet the other partway. Fine. If he wanted to make him work for it, he was fine with countering. "Huh. You say that as if that _isn't_ how I always mean things." Sheik responded by staring him down, making him instantly regret saying that. They were now way too close together, and he was only going to be able to avoid the other's gaze for so long, and he wasn't sure if he could stand it much longer before he started visibly showing his discomfort. _Shit, can he tell? Is he doing this on purpose. No, he can't be_ that _perceptive._

He was saved from having to do anything, because then Sheik grinned, shrugging his shoulders. "Heh. You're not _that_ good of a liar, you know," he said, tapping a finger against Vasheel's nose before standing up.

A confused look was all Vasheel could manage as the other walked off and out of sight. Alright, so he wasn't _completely_ unobservant. And while it hadn't been about what he was worried about, the fact that the other _could_ notice things meant he might have to be careful going forward. Then, he finally registered the touch. It was something familiar, friendly, almost playful – something he had never been on the receiving end of, and frankly didn't really trust. _The hell did he mean by doing that?_ Vasheel wanted to comment on it, but all he managed to do was mouth a "what…?" still staring off into space and growing ever more conscious of the warmth in his face.

* * *

Holy Nayru formatting is a pain on mobile. Don't be like me kids.

Guesty: I don't really remember my characterization of Sheik in that aspect being a conscious decision, but I guess I would say it's because I really do see Sheik as a child. I mean, I can't remember exactly how old he is at this point off the top of my head (fifteen I think), but in my experience that's not exactly the most emotionally stable age group. Also the impression I got of oot Zelda in the game was that she was someone who trusted people easily as long as she had some reason. Like even just a sense (hence trusting link because he fit her dream). So I was kind of going off that. He's probably going to change some over time but we'll have to see.

fleets: hah, my way of motivating myself whenever I get stuck writing this is to go "how can I make this as interesting/snippy as possible?" and that was kind of a thing a lot in this chapter, so... yeah.

well, I think this chapter gives you more of an idea of the "conflict." (TBH the story is kind of just a justification for writing and a way of stringing together a bunch of Vasheel/Sheik interactions I have in my head in a way that other people might actually be able to understand. As much as I tell myself that that means I shouldn't be so worried about the story being less quality, it still bothers me. Although what astounds me more than anything is that other people are interested in what is basically my self-indulgent ramblings disguided as fanfic)


	11. Chapter 11

Sheik had to guess that it was a week and a half alter when Impa reappeared next. It was a guess because they had no way of measuring time where they were, and she hadn't bothered with that small of a detail when there were a lot more important things going on. He sat bouncing his legs as she highlighted the events that had occurred since last time. Usually Sheik would pace when he was nervous or bored (and it seemed like he had been at least one of those a lot lately), but he hadn't been able to do it that often because after spending half an hour straight walking from one wall to another, Vasheel had snapped at him to stop.

They'd both been getting increasingly edgy around each other. Over their lives, the two had both developed a few unconscious habits that could be draining for someone else with sensory sensitivity. Sheik was a bit better about it, but even he had a limit where he couldn't keep things internal anymore. To be fair, Vasheel had a _really_ annoying habit of turning pages in a way that made a noticeable crinkling noise. And since he was a decently fast reader (and did a lot of it, with little else to do), it quickly started to grate on Sheik's nerves. Personally, it only made him more eager to be able to get out and _do_ something.

"…so at least the townspeople won't have to worry about his soldiers breathing down their necks constantly." Impa sighed, wrinkling her nose. "Of course, they haven't been left alone either. From what I can tell, their leaders are allowed to stay in power to appease the people, but for all intents and purposes their actions are dictated by Ganondorf. He's using Castle Town as his base of operations." She started and looked over to Sheik, who had kicked the wall.

He was hunched over now, glaring at the floor and tightly gripping the sides of his legs. Even as both of the other two continued to stare, he gave no indication of noticing them.

Finally, Impa turned away, continuing her report, a little softer now. "So we'll certainly need to avoid that area. There seems to be little other change so far, but we'll certainly need to watch for longer to be sure. I am surprised that there are hardly any more monsters around."

"Makes sense. He's hardly going to want them to run rampant and destroy everything, especially if his goal is to stay ruling." Vasheel leaned back, playing with a strand of hair as he talked. "Helps manage the humans too. They're still intimidated, but the threat isn't so bad that they feel forced to initiate any conflict."

Sheik let out a sharp huff, but otherwise remained unresponsive and sullen.

Impa moved as if to continue talking, stopping when she caught Vasheel give Sheik a challenging expression, which was reciprocated by an almost unnoticeable shake of the head. Her initial reaction was simply to arch her eyebrows at them, figuring they would stop there. However, after their 'conversation' escalated to increasingly frustrated motions (most noticeably Vasheel rolling his eyes with a wave that combined two different rude gestures into one) that continued despite the fact that she had been completely silent and still for over a minute now, she gave a single loud, firm cough. The way she folded her arms while staring pointedly at them might have been a bit overdramatic, but really. They should know better than to involve themselves in such childish actions. Well, at least _Sheik_ should have known better.

Shrugging and waving his hands away from him in a 'what?' type of gesture, Vasheel returned the glare. He stared her down until she turned to Sheik, when he took the opportunity to shake his head at both of them. Impa decided not to comment on it.

"What's bothering you?"

"Nothing." He avoided meeting her eyes. A muttered "I'm fine" was added as she leaned forward to examine him further.

The beginnings of a protest died in the moment between her drawing breath and turning it into words. She _knew_ exactly what was going on. After all, hadn't she felt the same upon first seeing what had happened? Anger at the treatment of the people she felt responsible for and the sharp, bone deep frustration that came with knowing there was nothing that could be done right now. And no doubt he felt it more sharply – the boy always did.

Her expression softened barely perceptively and she sighed internally, dropping the subject for now. This particular 'outburst' wasn't solely due to the state of Hyrule; Sheik's mood was aggravated by how stifling his environment was. He had gotten used to being able to do something, even if it wasn't much, and being completely cut off made things that much worse. While there was nothing she could do to address the root problem, if things actually calmed down a bit more, she might be able to talk herself into letting them address that which was worsening it.

XXXXXXXX

"So remind me how, exactly, we're supposed to find our way through a place called the lost woods?" Vasheel stopped walking and leaned back against a nearby tree, crossing his arms in wait for an explanation. The effect was slightly hindered by the fact that he'd winced from impacting the tree more forcefully than he'd expected.

Sheik did his best to ignore him, instead focusing his senses outwards to the woods beyond. In the moments between the wind rustling the leaves and the ambient noises of the environment settling into night, there was the faintest hint of a tune. As he turned to figure out if he could pinpoint where it was coming from, it abruptly cut off. Opening his eyes, he realized that Vasheel had moved to glare at him from less than a foot away now.

"Well? As much as I appreciate being able to breathe properly again, standing around like this isn't my idea of a good way to spend the time we have to be free."

Facing away again, Sheik made an absent shooing motion. "All we know is that to navigate the woods, you have to follow its melody. It will guide us on the path so we won't get lost."

Vasheel waited to take a half-step to the side until he was sure the Sheikah couldn't actually see him do it. "Pleasant," he muttered, staring to prod through the leaves and plant life on the ground with the side of one foot. "Don't the stories also say that those who wander here too long become monsters?"

"Which is why the path is so important. So _if you wouldn't mind_." He pulled his scarf down, even though it really didn't have anything to do with his hearing. Three pointed steps away and the music came to him in full force, almost exerting a pull on him. Sheik rotated on the spot to make sure. Then, he nodded to himself and gestured to Vasheel. "I don't know how much room for error this gives us, so stay as close behind me as you can. Whatever being truly lost involved, I really don't want to find-" He jerked his head to the side, tilting his left ear up and toward where the sound had been the strongest. Nothing.

Then his eyes fell on Vasheel. "Hey, back up for me."

"I didn't even say anything this time."

"Just try it. Please." _Smart as he can be, sometimes he just doesn't get it._

When he got about an arm's reach away, the faintest notes of the increasingly familiar tune faded back into Sheik's perception.

"Are you done playing with me? We need to start looking for the 'forest's melody,' whatever that means." He stared into the shadows of the wood, which were now almost indistinguishable from the gloom around them.

Sheik couldn't help but feel a little superior that the other _still_ hadn't made the connection, but reminded himself that it wasn't like Vasheel was able to notice it in the first place. For the other's benefit then, he asked, "You can't hear it?"

Vasheel started to give a "what do _you_ think" look, but froze halfway through, realization dawning. " _Magic_. Drinnel and sagebane," he growled.

"What?"

In response, he motioned for them to get moving, not starting to speak until Sheik got the message and got moving. "Poisons. Small doses of sagebane cause temporary memory issues, sometimes problems with motor control. Expose someone to a lot of it and their thoughts and movements are severely hindered, kind of a fog in the brain, from what's understood, and memory and other complex mental abilities are almost completely useless. Drinnel is a lot less painful." He paused, eyes darting upward in thought. "At least that's what's guessed. It either has no effect whatsoever, or, if you have enough, loss of consciousness and death within the hour. And victims tend not to be responsive during that period, so…" A shrug.

Sheik tried to suppress the cold tremor that ran through him. "That's _awful_."

"Effective, but not very useful if you're trying to be subtle about it." Vasheel continued, catching up to be beside Sheik as the result of not slowing down like the other had.

The complete lack of emotion in the statement finished the job, freezing Sheik completely. "Are you even listening to yourself?"

"Someone has to." He turned back when he didn't get a reaction. "What?"

" _What?_ You- you're-" Twisting the bottom half of his scarf in both hands, the Sheikah fought for the words to express what he had thought to be obvious. "You just talked about murdering someone and were more worried about, about getting away with it or _whatever that was supposed to mean_ than the fact that you'd be killing for no reason!"

"Poison's a little too complicated to use for _no_ reason." The same matter-of-fact, almost academic tone.

"That's not what I- it doesn't matter about justifying it – it's wrong to do and you don't even care!" The last words were practically snarled, not even dampened by the fact that the act of flailing his arms left his scarf half hanging off a shoulder with the edge of his braid caught in it.

Vasheel rolled his eyes. "No, I don't. Because it's not something that I'd do, so it isn't anything that would become my problem." He took an unconscious step back as Sheik's glare continued to bore into him, harsh as winter but strong as the sun's fire. Then, he shifted to the defensive. "I would have expected you to have heard a lot worse, being a Sheikah."

Sheik moved forward, the impact of his foot on the leaves below somehow much louder than any he had taken before, despite not looking any more forceful. In nearly a whisper, he said, "What do you mean by that?"

"Well your lot were the guards of the royal family, and I can't imagine any self-respecting guard not knowing enough about poisons to be able to protect their charge from them. And they're pretty useful against political enemies or for prisoners, depending on what you want from them."

"That's _evil_ , The Sheikah exist to fight things like that." His heels dug into the ground, as it was all he could do not to spring. Vasheel had no idea what he was talking about, was too affected by his silly irritation with them to understand. "We would _never_."

A very soft 'ah.' Vasheel was suddenly looking at him sympathetically.

He never did that. Something had to be wrong, and its continuation only frustrated Sheik more. Why couldn't he stop being so stubborn and listen? "Whatever it is you're thinking, you're wrong. I told you, we're not like that."

He nodded slowly, still far too nice for Sheik's comfort. There was something below the surface of it that seemed condescending. "No, that's – you were pretty young at the time. People always give children a more simplified story, that they're the good guys and the ones they fight are objectively, unquestionably bad. But I suppose you deserve the truth, even if it is late." A sigh. "Everyone knows the Sheikah were the ones who carried out the spying and handled prisoners – usually interrogation – during the war."

As untactful as this words were, Vasheel's real mistake was letting Sheik out of his field of vision when he made his last comment.

He could dismiss the criticisms usually made as a result of Vasheel's dislike of the idea of taking orders and being associated with a group meant for that, but this dispassionate condemnation of his people was not something Sheik could let go. How _dare_ he slander the name of a group dedicated to the protection of not only the Royal Family, but the peace and balance of all Hyrule. True, Sheik had never really met many of them. But _Impa_. She had been his guardian since birth, the one person he had always been able to trust, and she was their leader.

"You know _nothing_!" Instinctually, he drew a knife as he dashed forward. Vasheel had the initial advantage, as he had started backing up earlier, but that ground would easily be recovered. As Sheik opened his mouth to say something – what, he didn't know, not having any plan besides to get at the other – Vasheel abruptly vanished, leaving Sheik to stumble through the open air.

He wildly searched around, calling, "You jerk, get back here! How did you even manage that?" It was in his further examination of the area that he realized Vasheel's disappearance wasn't the only thing that had changed. Unless it was an illusion, he was not alone and in a completely different area of the Lost Woods.

XXXXXXXX

Vasheel blinked a few times, then waved a hand in front of his face to check that the other's disappearance from his field of vision wasn't just due to one of his headache symptoms. The pain had been getting steadily worse – fucking great timing, the first time in weeks he could do something vaguely enjoyable and he had to be suffering for that too – but it didn't seem to be affecting his sight this time. One positive at least.

"More magic bullshit them," he growled, aimlessly running a hand along a low-hanging branch within reach. The sensation of bark along his palm was more intense than he expected, evoking a mild ripple of nausea, and he quickly drew back. "Fuck." That was always a bad sign. Marking the spot where Sheik had disappeared in his mind, he began spiraling outward to hunt for the right plants to keep him from becoming totally useless. While possessing most of the ingredients already, he hadn't exactly had the liberty of bringing a lot of stock to the hideout. Even as he carefully picked his way around the undergrowth, Vasheel couldn't help from wondering how careful he could even be in a place that apparently used magical traps to ensure its name's reputation.

XXXXXXXX

The realization that he was now completely lost as well as separated from his companion dissolved Sheik's anger, only to replace it with equal amounts fear. As upset as he'd been, losing track of Vasheel could mean that he'd never find him. Since he'd already strayed off the path enough to activate whatever trap the woods had, even if Vasheel stayed put there was no guarantee Sheik would be able to find him by going the same way.

If he could even find the way again.

That thought was rejected. No, he just needed to focus on something besides his own heavy breathing. Listen for that song, almost familiar and comforting as the ones he'd used to activate the temples so far. It took almost a minute of complete silence and stillness without thought, but the sound came back to him, and as he opened his eyes, Sheik recognized the area as the one they'd started out in. So he at least had been safe all along.

Vasheel on the other hand. Well, nothing magical could harm him, but they had both been warned about the monsters that roamed the woods, rumored to be those travelers who had lost their way and stayed too long.

He didn't waste any time, delving into the forest once more.

XXXXXXXX

Twice the time it had taken to navigate the first go around, Sheik was forcing himself not to rush through the sequence. Overeagerness had already sent him off the path once, and worse, he had found it actually _branched_ at some points. What really frustrated him was that it meant either he hadn't been paying enough attention the first time of that the path was _changing_.

He nearly cried out when a pale shape came into view out of the dark ahead of him. Relieved as he was to see Vasheel, Sheik still wasn't in the mood to suddenly forgive him for his callous attitude. He approached with the intention of making some comment as soon as he got near enough, but instead simply found himself rolling his eyes at the sight of the other practically cooing over a bunch of plants. The only thing about their appearance that would have made Sheik even consider these as anything special was the way that, instead of a flower above the rings of leaves at the end of each stem, there was a single, somewhat oddly shaped red berry. Waiting until Vasheel leaned over to collect some, he stalked forward and spoke from almost over the other's shoulder. "You seem to be having fun."

To his credit, Vasheel didn't freak out quite as much as Sheik had expected him to, or at least didn't show it. "Nice. Good revenge," he gasped. As soon as he had recovered, he checked the plants to ensure he hadn't crushed them, "Decided not to leave me here after all, huh?" he commented.

Sheik couldn't quite parse the feeling that came in reaction. It was like his stomach had twisted and dropped at the same time, but without any actual physical sensation accompanying it. And he knew it wasn't that he was any kind of nervous. All he did know was that it upset him that Vasheel would assume he'd think like that. Granted, now that that course of action entered his mind as a possibility, he couldn't deny that it would be considered a reasonable one by some. Impa probably would have had to stop to think it over, or need Sheik's convincing not to do it. No matter what he insisted otherwise, Vasheel wasn't _that_ useful that he'd be worth going back for, if you went by the sharp calculations of practicality. If you'd asked Sheik when the two had still been underground for so long, he likely would have said he'd do it. But looking at it now, after that terrifying moment where he'd been convinced he'd never be able to find Vasheel again, he knew that wouldn't be an option.

"They're heart flowers."

"Huh?"

Vasheel carefully pinched the stem right below one of the small fruits and held it up. The fruit's shape held a resemblance to a stylized representation of a heart. "Nothing particularly special on their own; a single one is a mild pick-me-up at best. But in large quantities, their restorative properties are multiplied. They're the base ingredient of most any health potion, and even some others," He waved a hand over the several dozen clusters of flowers. "Never seen so many in one place before. They're not rare, but I've only heard of them growing close together like this in accounts from a few centuries ago."

Nodding vaguely, Sheik gave little attention to the other as he continued to ramble about how much time this would have saved him had he still been at the potion shop. Despite the easy resolution of his crisis over the possibility of leaving Vasheel to wander the Lost Woods, a part of him still nagged about it, that same odd feeling. And he couldn't shake the images that kept coming to mind of what might have happened to Vasheel alone, none of them pleasant.

"…and there's nothing about this spot that's particularly unique in terms of shade or what else is growing around. Might be the soil, come to think of it." By the time Vasheel's voice drifted back into Sheik's conscious awareness, it had a slightly gentler quality, words still excited but coming slower. Pausing after the last remark, he dug up a single specimen, which was deposited in a jar with a generous amount of dirt and stowed in his bag next to a handful of fruits he'd also picked. He looked up expectantly.

"Yeah we should, uh, should go find the temple." Welcoming the distraction, he drowned his thoughts in the music and set a slightly faster than normal walking pace, not worried about the other needing to follow his exact path.

When he finally did check behind, twenty minutes later, Vasheel was picking his way through the leaves about three times further than he needed to be.

Head down, he appeared to examine each pile before stepping on it, and he eased into each movement, slowly uncurling a foot to lay flat on the ground rather than simply placing it down, as if afraid of putting down too much pressure at once.

Sheik felt it was a miracle he hadn't completely wandered off-track already. "Hey," he tried, voice barely at the level needed for it to be heard from that far. When Vasheel didn't respond, he tried a bit louder, not wanting to set off the other's sensitivity. "Vasheel?"

"Mm?" He tilted his head up painfully slowly, a distant expression that wasn't due to being lost in thought.

"Maybe we should rest. I think we both need it at this point."

Vasheel frowned. "'m fine," he said, but the words had an odd quality to them, as if he were struggling to put together even that simple of a sentence. "Took something before. …kick in soon. We…getting close, or what?" A very determined, solid step when Sheik didn't respond, although he couldn't hide the wince.

Seeing that Vasheel wasn't going to be persuaded, he kept going. It wasn't worth the argument, especially given the state the other was in, and Sheik just hoped he wouldn't end up collapsing somewhere really inconvenient.

It was with those thoughts in his mind, the music in his ears, and vision inhibited by a night with the stars hidden that Sheik turned past a group of close-growing trees, only to jump back as a pair of mostly-intact skeletons jumped down at him from the trees.

* * *

 **AquilaMage** : roll initiative suckas

Umm, not much to say other than very glad to get myself back to this.

Guesty: yeah that's fair. I mean i could say that his upbringing wasn't what you would expect because it's a Hyrule recovering from a very recent war and that Sheik's had five years to "un-learn" whatever was taught, but that's totally just me thinking about it right now. It's just how I think of him. Also at this point, I _thiiink_ once we get to canon I'll end up changing things to work for how I see him/what works well with my ideas, but we'll have to see.


	12. Chapter 12

Sheik jumped back and started going for his weapons. "Stalfos!" He felt a little bad for yelling, but Vasheel would be hurt a lot more if he simply wandered into the monsters.

One of them had landed out of reach for now. The second landed with a clatter right in front of him and swung a sword in his direction.

He barely dodged out of reach, the blade cutting into his arm. As he moved, Sheik noticed it was missing or had cracked a rib in three places, with various mosses and ivy hanging from where they grew on the bones, almost obscuring the chest cavity. The step back from his attacker turned into a spin and more steps to the side as the second stalfos tried to sneak around him. He quickly countered, bringing knives up in both hands towards it. One was deflected by the creature's shield, but the other hit an already damaged area of its arm, widening the fracture.

In the moment where his drawing back from the strike put Sheik squarely in between the two monsters, they both lunged towards him. The Sheikah quickly threw himself to the ground and out of their reach, rolling a few feet before popping back up.

One stalfos had its sword stuck in the other's side from the force of its attempted attack. As it pried the weapon out, a rib bone and a considerable amount of the plant growth came off with it.

Sheik focused his vision behind them in the direction he'd come from. While he couldn't see or hear anything from Vasheel, all he could do at the moment was take it as good news and hope the other wouldn't get caught up in the fight. So far it wasn't anything he couldn't handle on his own, but if he also ended up with someone else to defend, Sheik wasn't sure how well it'd go.

Deciding to go for the stalfos that had been struck by its companion, since its injury seemed more severe, he rushed back in to the fight. Staying to one side of it, he brought both knives across the back of its spine in a horizontal cross, shattering the connected pieces and leaving the skeleton to clatter to the ground, bones scattering in every direction.

Because of the almost overwhelming sound from the defeated creature, Sheik didn't hear the movement of the projectile behind him until it exploded, the force knocking him face-first into the pile of bones. Some of the shards scraped his neck, hands, and face as he pushed himself back up to face the monster, ignoring the pain for now.

It became clear that the stalfos itself wasn't responsible for the explosion. Its shield had burn marks radiating out from a point slightly to the left of the center, and its sword was gone, along with half that arm, which now ended in a jagged piece of bone. Realizing that Sheik was currently incapacitated, the stalfos moved to finish him. Without a proper weapon, it instead chose to bring its shield down on him, glancing the side of his head and sharply impacting with the joint of his shoulder.

Willing himself to move despite how much his arm strained against it, Sheik twisted to his side and kicked a leg out at one of the monster's knees. The frantic act stunned the stalfos for a moment as was jolted even more than it had been from the blast, but it remained intact and standing. In pure frustration, Sheik launched himself at the stalfos, knocked away the follow-up swing of the shield with one arm, and struck once more with the other. This time, hitting the spine below the ribcage with the full force of his body's momentum, he finally destroyed the link keeping the monster together.

He collapsed on the ground as the bones showered down around him, the skull falling neatly into his lap. Everything else forgotten for the moment, he stared down at his knees and just allowed himself to breathe deeply. He wasn't sure if it was just the inevitable result of a post-battle change in nerves or something else entirely, but sitting there, he could understand what Vasheel had meant when he described the air in the forest as oddly energetic. It was almost intoxicating to inhale.

"Sorry it had to be like this," he whispered to the skull. Sheik knew nothing about it person it had once been, but the sight of it, weathered and brown, with a spiderweb of cracks on the back, evoked a sense of sympathy for the lost traveler. At least now they no longer had to wander the woods as a distorted version of their former self. In that sense, Sheik had helped them.

A slight gust brushed the bangs away from his face, giving him just enough of a view of the trees to notice the faint movement among them. Sheik looked up at the sound of a branch creaking.

Vasheel emerged into sight, approaching Sheik in a series of disjointed, unsteady movements. He gave a vague smile as he swayed in place. "Take you up on that break?"

With a single amused huff, Sheik carefully placed the skull to one side and eased himself up to stand. "Good thinking."

XXXXXXXX

"So why did we take those with us?" Vasheel stared into the empty eye sockets of one of the skulls, as if expecting it to reanimate.

From his spot on the edge of the circle of firelight, Sheik swept his gaze around the area once more. While he'd been the one to suggest the small flame, he still couldn't help but feel a bit paranoid about it. At least they had shrubs about three-quarters of the way around them, so it wasn't _that_ obvious to anything looking in from outside. "They used to be people. The least we can do is get them out of this place and give them a respectful burial." He sat, cross-legged, next to where Vasheel was sprawled out under a blanket. It had taken Sheik a few minutes to convince him to actually sleep; as much as he knew better than anyone that it was a good idea, he was still stubborn about not wanting to trust someone else to guard him. "I would have taken more of the remains, but they weren't exactly in the best shape, especially the one. Lot of jagged edges."

"Worked really well though. The explosion I mean. Didn't actually mean to hit you. Not the easiest to aim when your brain goes fuzzy." Propping himself up on one elbow, he started digging through his bag. "You get any burns or…?" A quick glance of Sheik up and down. "No, just cuts." He tossed a medium-sized jar over, extracting a small vial after that.

Sheik managed to catch the container, though he had to hug it to his chest to keep it from slipping. "And your solution is to throw glass at me?"

Vasheel laughed. "It's too thick for that. You'd have to be trying to break it. Put it on the injuries – it'll keep them from getting infected."

"Thanks." He unscrewed the lid and dipped a finger into the gel-like substance. As he brought it up to his face to apply, he caught a faint scent that reminded him of windows flung open the morning after rainshowers and leaning out to brush water off trees from the courtyard. Finished with applying it, he looked back up at the other. "You're doing alright, right?"

He paused what looked like the process of emptying and reorganizing his entire bag, "Yeah. Still there, but better. Does that sometimes." A smirk. "Can't afford to have us both useless. Was bad enough with just me out in that fight."

"You weren't completely useless." Sheik reached over and placed the jar in the middle of the supplies laid out on the ground. "It was pretty impressive that you could think of and make something like that, considering. …I am right that you're not just carrying bombs or something, right?"

Vasheel's indignant expression from having his organizational system messed up shifted to a more thoughtful one. "No, I don't. Just happens that dried plants set fire easily. If you have enough liquids, sooner or later one of them will be something explosive." He stifled a laugh at Sheik's look of panic. "It wasn't something _poisonous_. Just happened to have that property. Besides, it's not like I came up with it on the spot. _That_ would have been impossible. Different time."

"Really? What happened?"

He shook his head. "Used to do a lot of going out where I wasn't supposed to. Ran into monsters. Barely got out of it, honestly." As Vasheel spoke, he pulled up one of his sleeves, letting the burns on his arm stand out in the firelight.

Sheik winced as he examined the injuries. From what he could see and what he remembered from the one time he'd seen them before, the damage looked extensive. He'd never had burns more than the occasional singed fingertip that barely left a mark, but he'd heard serious ones were _nasty_. "Wow. Must've worried your guardian pretty badly when you came back with that."

Vasheel rolled his eyed as he smoothed the sleeve back down. "I forget you're used to being around people who give a shit about you. Even more that you're used to being able to _trust_ them that much."

"So she was upset at you?" He bit down the urge to reassure, to express sympathy, knowing it would not be taken well.

"Didn't give the old hag the chance to find out. Kept it to myself, treated it myself, never let it show."

The completely neutral tone showed none of his usual pride, and in that almost seemed to Sheik like an indication of being upset about his situation. Vasheel might make it seem as though he accepted this independence, but Sheik was sure there was no way it couldn't not be a burden as well. He attempted to pry into the possibility. "I never could have managed that alone. It must have been difficult."

Dropping a few items into his bag with more force than necessary, almost a throw, Vasheel hissed, "don't give me that sympathy shit." He began furiously sorting things, refusing to look up. "You might need other people, but in my experience? Everyone I've met in my life has been more hassle than they're worth."

"Even me?"

The only sound that could be heard was the crackling of the fire, and for Sheik, the distant song of the forest. He leaned forward, confident in what the answer would be, but still wanting to hear it.

Outwardly, Vasheel might have not noticed the question, as he hadn't hesitated or changed in any way as he continued fidgeting with his bag. "Less so than others, I suppose."

 _Ohh_. Sheik drew into himself for a moment, rubbing the edge of his scarf between his fingers. A lot of the explicit feedback he'd gotten before had led him to assume he was _more_ annoying. Then again. "Wow. A sincere compliment. I'm flattered."

"You're still difficult. Honestly, as good as you might be with some things, I would've expected more from such a _dedicated_ Sheikah who's had years with nothing to do but train." His eyes finally glanced up, although the rest of him didn't move. "I get that Impa wants to make you feel useful, but why the fuck would she entrust _you_ with the entirety of what seems like the most important mission you have right now? Doesn't seem like it's that involved that she can't do at least the more dangerous areas herself.

"Look-" Sheik jumped to defend his capabilities and more importantly, Impa's judgment, but forced himself to a halt. There _was_ a perfectly good reason for it. He just couldn't give it. This was the one thing he couldn't talk about, the fact that activating the temples wasn't a Sheikah thing, but the fact that he was the leader of the sages, holder of the Triforce of Wisdom. Sheik felt his breathing constrict as Vasheel gave him a questioning look, and he desperately searched for a way out of it. _Of course_ now _he decides to pay attention_. Forcing his head down, he prayed it would buy him a few more seconds and keep Vasheel from noticing the panic. It was probably too late; he could hardly play it off as a pause of anger. He had to give something. _Think._

Sheik tensed the muscles in his arms as he placed his hands flat on the ground on either side of him, using the leverage to launch himself at Vasheel. Before the other could react, Sheik had grabbed the neck of his shirt with one hand and pulled a knife near to the side of his face. "You have to _swear_ to me that this information will stay a secret. I don't care what happens – we cannot afford to let anyone find out."

While he'd been paralyzed up to this point by the sudden movement and proximity, Vasheel gave a small hum of amusement. "Who am I going to tell?"

"This isn't funny!" Sheik yanked Vasheel towards him so that their foreheads were practically touching. "There's more to the reason why we specifically are hiding besides being Sheikah, and if _anyone_ learns about us, that's the end of everything."

Vasheel's breathing came in slow, controlled motions as he desperately tried not to respond to how _very_ close he was to Sheik. A small part of him wanted to see how long he could keep this situation continuing, more was slowly heating up from what had happened already, and the loudest bit was screaming for him to just get out of it. Fortunately he resisted his first impulse, which was to exhale a puff of air at Sheik's face to get him to flinch and hopefully let go. Probably wouldn't end well. Instead, he looked at Sheik directly.

 _Shit. Shit. NO. Bad idea._ He just _had_ to push Sheik, didn't he? It wouldn't have really been worth it anyway, and now this. Goddesses fuck, he usually considered himself not someone any deity would ever bother with but it was times like this he couldn't help but think some higher power was getting far too much amusement from his misery.

Seeing Sheik examine him suspiciously and desperately willing himself not to listen to the urge to see what would happen if he stayed quiet, Vasheel finally spoke. "I won't. You know that already; I wouldn't risk myself like that, and I'm not _that_ much of an asshole."

Sheik narrowed his eyes at him. Vasheel was right, and he was probably being overly paranoid, but in this situation he couldn't afford not to be. It was just that Vasheel had reacted a little weirdly. While it probably didn't mean anything, he took a second to pray to the Goddesses he wasn't making a mistake. "Impa can't activate the temples at all," his voice dropped to barely a whisper, "because she's one of the sages."

"Ohhh." Managing, a little awkwardly, to bring his arm up in the small space between them to rest his chin on, he bit his lip in thought. "Makes sense. Come to think of it, I should have thought of that, since she is the leader of the Sheikah and you said-" A momentary glance at Sheik. "Did you mention how many of these there were?"

"Seven sages. Light, Forest, Fire, Water, Shadow, Spirit." When Vasheel pointedly counted them off, he added, "well, six temples, plus their leader, The princess, that is."

Vasheel made a face. "Ah yes," he said flatly, "her." Sheik had finally let go, so he took the opportunity to scoot back to a reasonable speaking distance. "It's completely inane that such a brat would be given so much power simply because of an accident of birth. Besides, if _she's_ so important, why have you lot allowed her to not be under your guard?"

It was just one heavy question to dance around after another, wasn't it? As weirdly endearing as Vasheel's desire for knowledge could sometimes almost be, times like this made it really tiresome. "Yes, it would really be sensible to hide two sages together, especially considering one of them is going out of hiding to sneak around Hyrule, and the other is the holder of a Triforce piece." He tried not to smile as he said it, since it had been almost exactly what Impa had argued when she, fresh from the escape from the castle, had begged not to be hidden away alone for so long. Not only that, but a small thrill went through him because _technically_ he wasn't lying about the situation, just misleading.

Sheik also couldn't help but want to defend his circumstances. As Zelda, she had never _asked_ for magical powers so different from anyone else's that she could barely be trained in them, for the whispers that had gone around the castle, strengthening when visitors arrived, the stares as if expecting her to produce miracles even at the age of seven. And when things started happening to her, the dreams and unexplained flashes of knowledge of things never taught to her, when she finally confided her fears, _no one listened_. They liked the idea of her, yes. Special. Blessed. The "Princess of Destiny." But let her get any ideas of her own, and she was only a silly child who had no knowledge of the real world. In the end, the only one who listened was Impa, who had believed in her all along, special powers or no, and another child, as touched by fate as she. "That kind of thing is a burden to put on a child, not a blessing."

"Hmm. But you don't even know where she is, do you?" Vasheel pressed further, ignoring the last comment. Sure, it might be a problem for her now, a bounty on her head, but that was only because of the current circumstances. In a peaceful era, it was simply more power to someone who already had more than anyone else could hope to achieve. Wasteful and unfair – and he was so absorbed in his own thoughts and intently staring at the fire (which probably needed building up) that he didn't even realize Sheik had spoken until an arm waved in front of his face. "What?" he half-hissed.

"I don't. Know where she is. Impa might, if anyone does, but she won't even tell me either way." He got up and walked over to their pile of branched, carefully adding a few to the blaze. Since Vasheel had continued to glare silently throughout the process, he tried to break the silence. "You _really_ have a problem with this… Are you sure you're not upset about not having magic when someone else has so much?" It was probably a bad topic to bring up, but watching Vasheel, even unknowingly, continue to vent so much anger towards him was getting to be too much.

He threw his arms up. "I don't give a shit about magic! I'm _glad_ it doesn't function around me. It's a form of power that's completely random; it gives so much influence to those that have it and there's no way to gain even the smallest amount if you aren't one of the few born with it. And those who do have magic use it as some kind of proof of their superiority, that they have the favor of the goddesses or whatever, when it doesn't _mean_ anything!" Vasheel had worked himself up to the point where he was stalking around the fire as he ranted. "I don't think I could ever respect myself if I had magic, because it wouldn't truly be mine. A part of me, yes, but not something I'd chosen. I care about information," he turned on his heels, sweeping an arm in Sheik's direction for emphasis, "because I can control it. It's something I can build on and use and even if other people try to keep it from me by hiding the books that hold it or lying or whatever, I can still get to it. As long as I have the will, nothing can stop me from growing in that power."

Sheik had backed off as far as he dared. He watched the pure force of energy that Vasheel held grow into something he had never seen before – wild and independent, lacking care for anything else despite its heat. This was not something he wanted to get nearer to. He didn't think he'd be able to handle it unscathed, and that scared him. In some ways, it was being directed towards him, and while Vasheel trusted Sheik now, if he found out about the other part of his identity….

Fortunately, all Vasheel did after that was stare into the fire some more before going to lie down again, muttering something about his head acting up. Sheik didn't complain, he was pretty sure he wouldn't be able to sleep right now anyway. He sat across the fire from his now-sleeping form, pulling the pendant out from under his clothing. The blue stone appeared almost purple in this light, and he rolled it around his palm as he tried to calm himself.

It would be fine. Vasheel was upset about a concept, and it just happened to be related to him. But that didn't mean anything about his actual attitude regarding Sheik, of course. He wasn't supposed to know, he might never know, because when they were done with this, what reason did Vasheel have to stick around?

Whatever. He slid further down, putting just enough tension on the necklace that the string was taut. The point was, those worries were in the far future, and he had plenty to fret about in the here-and-now.

XXXXXXXX

The last leg of their journey, of course, turned out to be no less difficult. Their path to the temple came into a narrow tunnel, and when the two finally emerged into a clearing they found themselves facing a giant maze.

Sheik held up a hand to signal Vasheel to hold up for a moment. Behind the almost uncomfortable loud forest music, he caught the sound of heavy footfalls and a low grumbling. Inching his way towards the entrance to the walled maze, he shifted his weight back and forth in an effort to see what monsters might be within. It wasn't until there had been no response for so long that he moved to poke his head around the corner that he saw one.

Twice his height and armored in mail, it carried an equally massive spear in one arm. Fortunately, the monster patrolled slowly enough that it was still turning, face forward to the wall, by the time Sheik ducked back out of sight.

"Moblin," he mouthed, before taking Vasheel's arm and leading him towards the slightly less steep cliff to the side.

Vasheel shook him off but followed. When Sheik backtracked towards him, he glared until Sheik pointed to the maze, then himself, and pressed his palms together before rapidly pushing them away, spreading out his fingers as he did so. Then he nodded exaggeratedly, as if to say "yeah I figured that out," and followed Sheik closer behind now.

It was a difficult climb, but the two made their way up to a point above the top of the walls with no further discussion or incident. From that spot, they could see the entire layout of the maze, including the fact that there were five moblins pacing at various points.

Vasheel tilted his head toward a narrow path that continued along the cliff and raised his eyebrows. He wasn't sure about Sheik, but he was definitely questioning whether he'd be able to make it all the way across, not to mention back, assuming they hadn't been seen by that point. He was managing alright, but his balance was never great with headaches.

In answer, Sheik pointed at the wider and definitely more stable flat tops of the maze walls. His expression was almost a smile, especially when Vasheel made a face and gestured at the moblins. He passed one hand over his face and put a finger to his lips, letting other consider his options.

Finally, he shook his head and crept toward the top of the maze. Despite his initial hesitancy, it seemed the moblins really were as ridiculously unobservant as Sheik had assumed. At one point they even jumped directly over the head of one without it giving the slightest reaction, and Vasheel had to restrain himself from dropping something on it to see if even that would manage to alert it. He knew most common monsters were notoriously dense, but come on. The little respect he could have had for Ganondorf disappeared; he couldn't imagine what made him think that putting creatures like these to guard one of the places that could be used to defeat him was a good idea. Honestly. Of course, it wasn't like he remembered most of the royal soldiers being any better.

It was only a short walk past the maze before they reached the entrance to the temple. In the center of the clearing was a stone platform decorated with a Triforce and the symbol of the sage, As he looked around, Vasheel unconsciously shrunk into himself as if to make up for the more restricted space. His concern only grew as he noted that the trees around grew impossibly close together, creating what amounted to a wall that ensured the only entrance was the way they'd come. Not that anyone should be able to approach from any other way in the first place. "I don't like this."

Sheik nodded, making his way to the stone. "It's certainly not natural. And the magic in this temple feels…empty. Not like there isn't any, but something about it…" He started, then pointed ahead of them. "You're seeing this, right?"

It was like the whole scene had shifted. That section had seemed unremarkably the same as everything else until Sheik had mentioned it. Now, the subtle differences in shadows and texture revealed a fucking giant building. While completely overgrown and crumbling in places, the details that could be made out suggested that it used to be a grand place. "Who the fuck builds this kind of thing in the middle of some cursed woods? _This_ is the temple?"

After a second of magical concentration, he nodded. "Definitely temple. As for the rest, I have no idea." As super-weird as the location was, it didn't concern him or his mission. Taking his place in the center of the platform, Sheik cast a quick look at Vasheel. If it wouldn't have completely interfered with his ability to complete the awakening process, he'd actually have wanted him closer. With the forest music still loud and clear in his head, he worried that he wouldn't be able to concentrate, or worse, that it would interfere with the other song's magic.

The instant he retrieved his harp, however, the music went silent. A glance to the side told him it wasn't due to any interference, however. It almost felt as if the forest had politely bowed to him and stepped off to the side, magically speaking. Giving him space for this task. Pushing the weirdness of that thought away, he sank into the energy around him, strong and deep, with an almost lifelike flutter, and he played. Even though the two sounded nothing the same, the song of the forest temple gave off the energy of the Lost Woods' music, as if they were intertwined. It explained the earlier shift in magic, certainly. This sage had to have a strong connection to the land around them to elicit this kind of response. Fitting, given their title.

Sheik took a moment for himself as he finished playing, letting himself bathe in the echoes of the tune, which he could feel even now reverberating through the temple. There was a brief pause, a silence like a breath held, yet not an empty one. Then the ambient song of the woods stepped back in, growing to prominence in his mind again.

"That it?" Vasheel leaned towards Sheik as much as he could without actually crossing any part of him over the stone. He had his arms crossed, weight unevenly distributed as if he was too tired to really bother with staying up. "I was expecting something more impressive than just a bit of music."

"The awakening process is a deep spiritual action where I link my energy with that of the sage and the temple, forging the connection between the two that allows the sage access to the Sacred Realm. It's not supposed to be _fancy_."

Shrugging, he turned around. It didn't really matter to him. "Whatever. We're done here, right? Now what?"

Sheik sighed as he collected himself for the journey. "We head back the way we came."

"…" Vasheel paused. "Backtrack all that way?"

"Hey, if it was just me I'd step off the path and be done with it. It's your fault."

His only response was an almost inaudible agitated sound.


	13. Chapter 13

There wasn't much time to rest once the two returned from their excursion, as Impa reappeared a day later, escorting the two of them from the hideout and across the fields, all the while keeping completely silent and instantly hushing any questions attempted. It wasn't until all three of them were secure in a similar style underground cave nearer the lake that she explained that Ganondorf had somehow been able to sense the change in magical energies from the temple's awakening. While he likely couldn't track it back to the source, the forest would soon be bursting with monsters, and she did not want to take the chances of one of them stumbling upon the two. They were to keep here for now to wait out the extra activity until she could figure the extent of the danger.

Sheik had also noticed the way she almost constantly hovered around him in that time. It made sense, after all: Ganondorf likely knew the terms for awakening the temple and would stop at nothing pursuing the first trace of the princess in years. He would just have to accept this further inability to act, for all their sakes.

Things quickly calmed down for Sheik and Vasheel, though. With no real input except when Impa came back with their supplies, the threat of discovery lost its immediacy and the two settled into a routine. This time, as the weeks progressed, there wasn't the same tension as before, largely due to the fact that they were so wrapped up in their individual thoughts that they ignored each other – on purpose and accidentally.

Vasheel buried himself in his books, sitting in place for hours until stiffness in his limbs forced him to move. The few materials he hadn't read were quickly devoured, and the pages of his own notes multiplied dramatically. He forced himself to work at a measured pace. As much as he wanted to tear through everything, completely lose himself in it to the point where other thoughts were impossible and exhaustion granted him the reprieve of dreamless sleep, Vasheel knew he wouldn't be able to keep it up for long. He would run out of things to do. So he balanced the line, keeping just enough occupied to shield himself from the intrusive thoughts.

Unfortunately, the inherent stillness of those activities soon built into a restlessness that verged on physical discomfort, to the point where he knew if he didn't do something it was a matter of hours before he ended up screaming and breaking things. So that frustration got channeled into potion-making, trading off between tasks.

When Impa came to check in on them, it was to find a decently wide stock of common medicines and mixtures – enough for a small shop, she would guess. The only response she could manage was asking what he planned to do with it, and when he shrugged, saying they never knew when they would need it and if she really cared she could take some, Impa dismissed it as a harmless eccentricity. She was able to plant small portions of it in the smaller towns where they didn't have the supplies and money. That made it almost worth it that the boy gave her a long and very detailed list of plants he wanted to keep making things with.

Even with this routine established, there were still times when he was forced to confront his own thoughts, in the especially simple steps of mixing potion bases, physically but not mentally incapacitating headaches, or the times before falling asleep. He'd initially been able to dismiss his thoughts in the Lost Woods as part of his addled mind, but after a few days and Sheik's presence still eliciting reactions, the excuse just couldn't hold up. But even after he was forced to acknowledge that _something_ was going on, Vasheel wouldn't – couldn't put words to it. As time went on he found himself on rare occasions even trying to figure it out, that feeling that held the overwhelming fullness, the volume of apathy but only a little of its weight; the stormy, alert tinge of anxiety; and the barest hint of the feeling of separation from himself he got when he was overwhelmed.

The realization, though, hit him all at once and without the need for contemplation. Sheik had been practicing some routine or whatever accidentally cut his arm and the first time Vasheel even consciously noticed the situation he was already halfway over, muttering some exasperated comment. He froze then, as the thoughts he'd been carrying around and trying to push away clicked together and everything became distant. Somewhere in his mind, he registered Sheik, an arm's reach away and staring at the abrupt change in Vasheel, and that small bit of himself compelled him to move again, going through the motions of fixing Sheik up, but to his conscious self, it was as if he was watching from somewhere else, senses barely coming through. Even his thoughts were stunned. Instead of the panic, the racing thoughts or emotions he might've expected to come with such a revelation, there was nothing. It was as if his mind refused to operate. He had finished his earlier work sorting a new bunch of plants and lain down, feigning tiredness, before his thoughts, at least, were released from the fog.

He cared about Sheik.

It shouldn't have hit him so badly – for most people, the concept of giving a shit about another person often happened automatically, so many times it would never even register. But even that basic level of emotion was something Vasheel had almost never experienced, either because of his isolation or easy irritability. This was more than that. He had just automatically gone to help Sheik, no prompting, for something so simple the other would've had no trouble tending to it.

How was he supposed to process that? Vasheel had always figured he wasn't necessarily incapable of feeling friendly towards others – although there had been times he'd considered it – just that it was difficult, but even then he'd thought it would have to be a conscious decision. But no, apparently not.

And it wasn't even that simple, was it? As he curled up further into himself under the blanket, all hopes of sleep now fully dashed, he recalled the Lost Woods and hell, even a few times before that that probably counted. This was different even from that. He-. No, no. Even understanding now, with the words in his head, Vasheel couldn't bring himself to actually think them, to let himself acknowledge that bit. Too painful.

So instead he stewed and ruminated. Why did this have to happen to him? It was ridiculous and unfair and _for the love of Nayru_ , this Sheikah annoyed him just like everyone else did, he was nothing special, so what made him so different that he could inspire this level of concern and – goddesses damn it – affection?

XXXXXXXX

Sheik's ways of distracting his mind were in much the same vein, trying to occupy his mind or empty it. Even with as much practice as he'd had with meditation, clearing his thoughts to concentrate in prayer or to connect with magic around himself, it still wasn't perfect. Besides, he only had so much energy to use on that level of focus. When he tired of that, Sheik spent time training, running himself through drills or simply exercising.

Where the two differed, though, was the fact that Sheik didn't completely ignore what was bothering him. He simply couldn't. As much as he'd been able to dismiss them in the moment, Vasheel's comments about the Sheikah in the Lost Woods had carried too much conviction to completely disregard. Vasheel _had_ read a lot, including, it seemed, books from Impa's private collection, and had grown up outside the potential influence of being around the Sheikah and the Royal Family, among common folk who would feel freer to speak of such things with less fear of retribution. The worst part, though, was that he knew Vasheel wasn't lying.

Those factors put together meant that Sheik was forced to confront the possibility that the Sheikah might not have been as good as he'd always thought. And if it only had been that they weren't perfect, he could handle that. It was normal for someone to learn that about people they respected as they grew up. But to accept the fact that they acted in ways that went against the very principled he'd been raised on…

The first time he let himself get that far, Sheik started crying so badly he couldn't do anything for several hours. Small mercy at least that Vasheel had been asleep at that point.

To think that it could be true hurt him more than anything else ever had. Loyalty, justice, to respect and protect the entirety of the land – were supposed to be the Sheikah code, something that had always seemed the most admirable. Even his own name, silly as it might be, had come from the memory of being five and clinging to Impa everywhere she went, begging for more stories of their heroes past and declaring that she wanted to be like them.

Impa…

It should have been so easy to ask, to expect the response denying everything, proving beyond a doubt that the things – and person – he held most dear weren't based in a lie. But he couldn't bring himself to, too afraid that he would have to hear her admit to such horrible things, or worse, to hear her try to dispel his fears and recognize the lie in her voice.

At least it was easy for Sheik to avoid her. He didn't want her noticing his change and trying to talk to him. She rarely showed up, he managed to disguise his mood as impatience to leave or tiredness, and Vasheel usually kept her occupied with his ridiculously detailed descriptions of plants he wanted anyway.

For a short time, after weeks of keeping it to himself, he almost considered talking to Vasheel about it, if only to have someone else to talk to it. Problem was, the other wasn't exactly fond of the Sheikah, which probably destroyed any possibility of him saying something reassuring, and he seemed to have an uncanny knack for being insulting or insensitive even when he was actively trying not to be. Besides, Vasheel had been acting really weird, especially more recently, half-paying attention to anything Sheik said at best and seeming to go out of his way to ignore him in a way that went beyond an 'I'm sick of being around you' vibe.

And so the Sheikah was left alone with the heavy burden of sifting through his memories, his lessons, what he'd read – anything that would concretely disprove Vasheel's statements or at least the chasmic discrepancy between them and everything he'd ever known.

XXXXXXXX

Fortunately for the both of them, this state, while lasting quite a while, proved not to be endless. The next time Impa appeared, it was for more than a quick update and resupply. "I've been monitoring Ganondorf's agents and it seems as though they've finally settled down again. From what I can tell, the forest is still swarming with monsters, but they've stopped searching so much everywhere else." She casually brushed a hand over Sheik's shoulder as she spoke. The faint expression of unease he made gave her pause for a moment, but she decided it would be more practical to wait and ask him later. "While this doesn't mean we still shouldn't be careful, we now have the chance to do more scouting and maybe even take action." More hesitation at Sheik's reaction, this time a spark in his eyes at the possibility of direct action. She hated to crush him like this, but, "Vasheel, I'm taking you with me to investigate the Death Mountain foothills. There's clearly some kind of disturbance in the area, and I don't want our path to the Fire Temple to be cut off. We leave sunset tomorrow."

Vasheel simply nodded a few times before turning away.

The beginnings of Sheik's protests were quickly cut off as Impa gently took hold of his arms and pulled him in towards her. "I know," she said, brushing back his hair. "You want to go, and believe me, I want to let you. It's just too risky right now. I need help, and you're the more important one here, that's all." Noticing that Vasheel was still actually paying attention, she added, "No offense."

He shrugged. "You're completely right."

Sheik looked up at her as she turned back to him, blurring as he struggled to keep his emotions contained. Impa was speaking from a place of absolute sincerity and love, and that only worsened the sting of being left out, denied his right to defend Hyrule as he'd promised. All he could manage was a small "okay" as she pulled him in for a hug.

The next day managed not to make Sheik feel any worse, at least, as he'd resigned himself to being left on this one. He could use some time alone anyway, and at some point he'd be going out too. That became harder to keep up as time passed. Impa came and went several times over the next few weeks, each time taking Vasheel with her, each time leaving Sheik behind. And he knew it wasn't meant to hurt, he was important beyond literally anyone in Hyrule and staying safe wasn't meant to be kept likely, but Goddesses. Every second down in the hideout was a reminder of his absolute helplessness and the ringing echo of being denied any choice in the matter, even the slightest option of being able to remedy the mistakes his choices had wrought.

He had it under control, though. He was managing. At least he thought so, until, not long after returning on a scouting mission, Vasheel had knocked over a few books and Sheik was on him, clutching him hard enough to leave bruises and ready to argue the second the other said literally anything.

Instead, when Vasheel had frowned and said, "getting a little stir-crazy, huh?," all the strength left his body and he collapsed on top of him, shaking. "I-I just want to do something. I'm a Sheikah and I know…. but it's not fair!"

Vasheel extracted his arms and held them up against himself, just below shoulder height. It was a little awkward, but he wanted as little physical contact with Sheik as possible. This was exactly why he'd had no problems with going out on Impa's orders. Well, avoiding his weird feelings and getting to be somewhere that actually let him breathe.

Fortunately, Sheik then sat up. "Sorry about that," he said quietly, brushing himself off. "It's just….not good. If I could at least go above ground once in a while…"

An idea struck Vasheel, one that he instantly tried to get rid of, because he instinctually knew it was born out of the part of him that he had been trying to bury. Problem was, it was too perfect. Worse than that, both parts of it appealed to him. As nice as his current excursions were, he was constantly under Impa's watch and orders, almost more restricted than being down here. He needed his own space and freedom and goddesses fuck it wasn't fair how much it hurt him to see the almost flat-out despair on Sheik's face every time they left and he wasn't sure how much longer he could stand either. And now, after this outburst…

He spoke up before he could regret it. "You could, you know."

Sheik paused. "That's nice of you to say, but at this point I think Impa's too paranoid to let me."

"Impa's not here right now."

A long stare as he ran through the logic of the statement. Then, "She wouldn't want me to. It's not safe."

Getting up, Vasheel stared at the entrance as he mentally calculated the time. "I don't recall there being an explicit order not to leave. Besides," he added, refusing to back down now, "a few feet out the door would hardly make a difference. As far as I know, the only thing really keeping you from magical tracking is me, so I'll just have to escort you."

Sheik watched helplessly as Vasheel strode to the door and began opening it as if it were the simplest decision in the world. Everything he'd said had been true, but the idea of betraying Impa's trust like that didn't sit well. Crossing his arms, he pointedly dropped his weight even more where he was sitting. The resolve only lasted as long as it took for the sounds of the night to start pouring in and a light breeze to brush the back of his neck. He turned, then internally cursed when he saw Vasheel leaning against the open doorway.

"You know if we get caught, you can blame me."

With heavy steps, Sheik made his way over until he was just inside that side of the threshold. Pulling his scarf completely off and adjusting his braid so his hair swept behind him, he drank in the sheer amount of life he could feel compared to the barren cave. No negative feelings assailed him, only an ever-renewed love for the simple existence of the land. This was what everything was about, and one day, he would earn the ability to walk here alone, day or night, without the slightest fear of harm. "It's beautiful," he whispered.

"Yeah, I guess it's alright." While Sheik stared up at the stars, Vasheel, still against the door, kept watching the other next to him. It _was_ always nice to watch the beauty of the sky's endlessness, but he'd seen that before. The Sheikah's expression of peace and contentment, however, was unlike anything he'd ever witnessed. The faint smile on his face disappeared as his brain decided to ruin the moment, reminding him that this was _the exact opposite of what you're supposed to be doing, thoughtless, since when has tolerating other people been beneficial for you, let alone caring?_ Soundlessly, Vasheel stepped back and into the hideout proper, leaving Sheik alone to enjoy the moment.

XXXXXXXX

The next morning Vasheel found Sheik lying flat on the ground, arms crossed to prop his forehead slightly up. He gave it a moment's attention but quickly set to his usual busy work. As…nice…as it had been in the moment, his actions from before now weighed heavily, an even more concrete reminder of exactly what he'd been trying to avoid. As several hours passed and his curiosity over whether Sheik was just asleep or not grew, Vasheel finally got up and poked at him with the edge of a book. "Certainly an interesting form of meditation."

Absolutely no movement. "I feel bad."

"Oh." He leaned back towards his things. "What is it? I've got medicine for pretty much anything common, well, didn't have enough-"

Slightly more muffled, "Not like that. I feel bad mentally."

"Ohh." This time his voice came out slightly lower, almost a disgusted sound. Great. Emotional reassurance. Precisely the opposite of what he was good at. "Well I've got nothing for that," he said, hoping that would end the conversation.

There was a period of silence before Sheik asked, "How do you manage to just … not have a conscience?"

"I _have_ one," he replied, the slightest bit petulantly.

Sheik simply twisted to the side a bit, head now propped on one hand, and stared him down.

Crossing his arms, Vasheel glared back. "I _do_. If I didn't, you'd be a lot more miserable, possibly dead. Trust me."

"I can think of maybe one thing that would suggest you do."

That irritating new part of him that was struggling to gain a hold and a voice was very much tempted to ask what the thing was, but he shoved it aside as roughly as he could, considering it was all mental. As he readied himself to give a harsh, probably sarcastic answer, it came back at a different angle and harder to resist, logically backed as it was. He hadn't personally done anything particularly reprehensible lately that could have possibly caused this, and with no one else around to attribute it to, the real problem had to be internal. A sigh. "Is this about last night?"

Sheik didn't say anything, and it was obvious he was trying to keep the same expression, but he had already started to chew on his bottom lip by the time he caught himself.

"Really. You didn't even leave!"

"Just because you don't care about other people's trust…" Frowning, he shrank into himself, unconsciously pulling his legs up to his torso. "There's just so much guilt and it hurts."

Ugh. Feelings. Any other person, anytime before this and he'd tell them how absolutely ridiculous they were being, maybe even laugh at them. But no. Instead, this vicarious miasma of unpleasantness settled on Vasheel. He could have at _least_ been given a semblance of social skill in this area to make up for it, thanks. Would have to handle this his way then. "Look, she doesn't know, doesn't need to know, and did you get hurt? Were you ever even slightly in danger?"

"You're missing the point?"

"No." He leaned in ever so slightly. "It made you feel better and no harm done. I fail to find any moral issue in that."

Sheik flipped around completely, now facing the other side.

"Fine! Suit yourself," he said, irritation and impatience quickly bleeding through. As he got up to leave, his mind slipped out one final thought before he could catch it. "We should actually leave go out. It'd be even nicer and then you could somewhat reasonable justify your guilt."

XXXXXXXX

Vasheel hadn't really expected Sheik to ever even consider his offer, so it came as a huge surprise when, about a week and a half later, Sheik plodded down next to him.

"Iwanttogooutside."

He flinched, from being startled enough that he almost sliced his finger with the knife he'd been holding, as well as from the sudden proximity. "What?"

Steeling himself, Sheik took in a deep breath. "I said-"

"No, I heard you," he waved off the stumbling attempts to continue speaking. "You mean more than that though, right?" Not bothering to wait for a real response, since actually prodding something out of Sheik could take hours if he bothered to do it delicately, he continued, "Asking me to leave here with you, huh?"

"Well I…"

Vasheel shook his head as he got up. As far as he could tell, he wasn't followed, and sure enough, when he turned back after opening the entrance, Sheik was still in the exact same spot, having moved only his eyes to track him. "Well?" He gave an exaggeratedly low bow, sweeping one hand from Sheik's direction to the door. "Your highness."

Sheik tensed, but after a second strode purposefully out, crossing the threshold without hesitation and without so much as glancing at Vasheel.

Shrugging it off, Vasheel exited as well, pausing to cover the entrance before chasing after the other. He found Sheik in the middle of the nearest clearing, shoulders just a little too rigid and high up as he stared at the treetops. Coming around him in a wide arc, Vasheel followed his gaze, then moved back to meet it. "I know it's a nice night, but being exposed like this is a little too bold for even me. Come on."

Led by Vasheel, the two made their way back into the trees, settling on a thick branch about twenty feet up. No words were exchanged for a while as they sat and absorbed their surroundings.

With the pressure of conversation and immediate reactions lifted, Sheik found himself slowly loosening. The stress of his resolve to actually go through with this had been eating at him for a while before, and while Vasheel had managed to get rid of some of it in not making fun of him like he'd expected, addressing him like that, as much as he knew it was sarcasm, brought in a whole slew of negativity that took a while to talk himself out of.

"You're reacting better than I expected." Vasheel commented offhandedly.

He considered that for a moment. The guilt was still there, true, and it would strengthen as soon as he went back inside, but out here it was all too easy to let the input of the world wash over his senses, just enough that he didn't have the energy for much in the way of stray thoughts, but not so much that he was overwhelmed. He locked his legs around the tree limb and tipped his weight backwards to just a little before the point where he felt he would lose balance and fall. "I think you're rubbing off on me."

A snort. "Add that to my list of achievements, then. Corrupted a promising young Sheikah away from his ideals and toward the path of indifference." He absently pulled his hair back with both hands. "The negativity of my existence knows no ends."

"You're not _completely_ horrible."

Furrowing his brow, Vasheel looked at Sheik for the first time in the conversation. "Mmm. I don't think so."

Sheik readjusted his weight so he flipped completely over, hanging upside down by his legs. The giggle at Vasheel's expression of panic was only stifled by the fact that breathing was more effort now. "No. I said it before, remember. One thing."

His expression slightly more irritated-looking than default, Vasheel adjusted himself around to face the other. "Yes of course." He cursed softly as his sleeve caught on a patch of bark.

"I mean, you were right. Just a little," he added hurriedly. "And I still know this isn't something I should make a habit of or get careless about, but it wasn't fair of me to simply dismiss you and your ideas as basically immoral because of it." As he spoke, he began to ever-so-slightly swing back and forth.

It hadn't been explicitly worded that way, but Vasheel recognized the apology in his words, and that struck a chord in him. Sure, there was a small point to what Sheik was saying, but considering that in the same conversation Vasheel had openly and unashamedly mocked him for having – really kind of admirable, when he considered the rest of the population – morals and a code of honor, Sheik had no reason to apologize.

But that was just what he did, wasn't it? Something had convinced Sheik that he wasn't an enemy, and because of that, it seemed he had an endless capacity for forgiveness, at least in the longer term. And yet he still managed it without allowing Vasheel to overpower or take control of him.

Even under normal circumstances, Vasheel knew he would never deserve that kind of treatment. Add onto that his general irritable attitude, not to mention all the (probably uncountable by now, he certainly couldn't remember) times he'd somehow insulted, hindered, or belittled Sheik, often for no reason, and the only thing he had earned should have been the Sheikah's absolute disgust. _Explains why you like him, certainly._

And with _that_ thought, Vasheel felt a slight weight tug at his stomach. Continuing to be horrible to Sheik when he knew his actions would cause harm was bad enough before, but now? Saying that he would be hypocritical to say he cared about Sheik would be the least of it.

"Maybe not for that exact reason, but you still had a point." Vasheel felt his throat close up as Sheik paused, staring at him incredulously. "I haven't exactly…" Goddesses, he always had no problem being blunt, but this was different. Lashing out at people was an instinctual reaction, so saying this was, although at a small scale, in essence, rejecting a part of himself. "haven't exactly been _kind_ to you. Ever, really."

Sheik frowned, and pushed his legs from the branch, at the same time grabbing another branch. Using his momentum, he swung around and back up to where Vasheel was sitting. "Sorry, I don't have enough strength to pull myself up, but I had to have been upside down for too long. I thought I heard you being sincere. And not sincerely angry."

Holy fuck that was the cutest thing he'd ever heard. Sheik had been sarcastic with him before, but the whole thing was on a completely different level. Vasheel paused as he tried to process it. _Shit. Shitshitshit._ Then he started panicking as he remembered he was supposed to be saying something but had completely lost the words. Finally, he managed, "Well it's the truth isn't it?"

The forcefulness of the question caused Sheik to scoot back a little, but he held his composure. "Well yes, and I suppose you have admitted to it before, but it's not like much has changed, so it doesn't make sense why you'd care."

Vasheel dipped his head in a way that the shadow of his bangs just obscured his face. "I know. But that's hardly fair to you, is it? And it's not going to get us anywhere going forward, with things only getting worse out here." He straightened up, expression one of the most serious he'd shown, barring the ones he had handling delicate plants or especially complex potions. "You already had every right to do this, but I'm giving you permission since that seems to be a thing for you. Next time I'm being a shit to you, tell me. I'm going to try to avoid it, but…" He waved a hand vaguely. "Well, you know. Habits."

"O-okay then," Sheik managed, still confused. "So…you promise to actually try to be nicer and I promise to help you?" While this turn of events certainly wasn't unpleasant, to him it was completely out of nowhere. Ridiculous as it was, he couldn't help but question if this was truly the same person.

Vasheel nodded, and when Sheik tentatively stretched out an arm, the two shook hands, lingering afterward, neither really sure what to do, before they separated.

"Are your hands really always this fucking cold?"

Sheik nearly exploded into laughter. Well, some things hadn't changed, at least.

* * *

had so much fun writing this one, if you couldn't tell. things are just. really going to be happening from here and it's all things i am very excited for.

 **Twilit Guest:** haha well, I suppose it is a little bit denial. Vasheel is in fact very much opposed to it because of the way magic operates, but he does totally secretly think the things that can be done with magic are cool. **  
**


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